Challenge
by SuddenMystery
Summary: High school AU. Lukas is good at observing people. When a new boy starts on his class, he will need those skills to keep his secret safe. However, the newcomer named Tino has something to hide as well, and soon keeping those secrets becomes a silent challenge between the two. As secrets start to unravel, they find themselves in a dangerous situation. Pairing: Finland x Norway
1. Chapter: Secrets Cause Headache

**Notice: This is a NorFin/FinNor story. This wonderful pairing has way too little literature, especially multichapters. This is an AU, so be prepared.**

 **Also, I don't own the characters nor Hetalia. You would know if I did...**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Autumn was gradually changing in to winter. The fallen leaves had frosted over during the night and were crunchier than usual under Lukas's feet. His breath came in small, foggy huffs as he made his way in his usual stoic manner towards the school that could be seen at the end of the road. He was 17 and had just started his second year of high school. Even though he appeared bored and stoic, he actually enjoyed new knowledge and he liked his friends – though he would never say that aloud, especially to one certain Dane…

"Luukieee!"

Lukas was half-sure his thinking had summoned the devil when one boisterous Dane could be seen running towards him arms wide open like he wanted a hug - and knowing the Dane that was a real possibility. Lukas kept his pace even, his poker face not once slipping while he eyed the approaching annoyance. On the last moment before the collision, he stepped aside and ducked a little to avoid the flailing arms. The annoyance ran past him and skipped to a halt.

"Mathias Køhler, what do you think you are doing?" Lukas asked in his monotone voice. These kinds of displays were not uncommon for the Dane and Lukas didn't know if he was more annoyed or amused by his friend's antics. Contrary the popular belief, he did show emotions and kept his poker face usually when he wanted to mess with people. Take it as his peculiar way to show affection. Mathias seemed unaffected by it, but Lukas presumed it was because he was used to it and knew it was his way to treat friends. It was an interesting friendship, but it worked, even if Mathias often did annoy Lukas to no end. But isn't that what best friends were for? And no, Lukas just did not admit to himself that he thought of Mathias as his best friend. Okay, maybe he did and maybe it was true.

Mathias turned to face him with a face-splitting grin he tended to greet Lukas with. That grin annoyed him.

"I just wanted to give you a hug. Can I give you a hug? I missed you", Mathias declared. Lukas rolled his eyes and continued his journey since he wasn't fond of being late. Mathias fell in step with him, so he walked a bit faster.

"No. We just saw yesterday", Lukas commented and ignored the puppy eyes Mathias was giving him.

"Yea, but I still missed you", he replied. When Lukas didn't answer, Mathias apparently took it as a sign of approval and threw one of his arms around him. Lukas pinched Mathias's hand and slipped from under it when his friend was busy yelping. He might have pinched really hard.

"Ow! That really hurt, you know", Mathias said while shaking his "injured" hand.

"It was supposed to. I gave no permission to such an action", Lukas responded. Also it really was his way to show some affection to the Dane. He didn't go around pinching people for fun, after all.

"Aww, I forgot you were not fond of public displays of affection", Mathias said teasingly.

"After all these years you still forget that?" Lukas asked. Now he was just messing with Mathias, who laughed at his comment.

"Everyone makes mistakes, Lukas", Mathias laughed.

"Some more than others", Lukas muttered just as they stepped inside the school gates. Another of their friends, Berwald, was waiting for them in front of the building. The Swede was quiet and stoic, but made good company and didn't annoy Lukas like Mathias did. Berwald and Lukas didn't always agree on everything, but mostly managed to keep things polite and civil. Mathias and Berwald in the other hand did occasionally annoy each other and when they were younger they did have lots of fights, but they had both calmed down a bit. Despite their differences, they were friends and kept together.

Mathias and Berwald were on their third year, one year older than Lukas. That was why they often saw only on breaks and free periods, but sometimes they did have classes together. Lukas's little brother Emil also went to the same school, but he wasn't in high school yet – he would start next year – so Lukas rarely saw him in school grounds. It was the only international school around. He also liked to mess with his brother as he cared for him, but Emil didn't take to it that easy. It was fun, seeing his cool and collected brother so flustered. Mostly he was nice to Emil, though, and loved his brother dearly.

The three of them walked through the school hall with Mathias telling about his weird dream until Lukas took a turn towards his classroom while Berwald and Mathias continued to theirs. While Lukas didn't look like he had been listening to the Dane, he had been doing so, and thought that the dream had been just as obnoxious as his friend – let it be said that it included nudity, yodeling and running through a crowded street.

Lukas arrived early like he liked to and settled to stand near the locked door to wait for the teacher. There were few others, but more and more slowly drifted in front of the classroom. People chatted with their friends, attempted to complete homework in the last minute or were typing on their phones. Lukas enjoyed watching people and had developed a very fine skill regarding it; he was able to pick the little things most ignored or didn't take notice of. People tended to say more with their bodies than they intended. Sometimes he encountered something more interesting, like now he spotted a blonde boy leaning to a wall close by.

The boy was shorter than Lukas, but not by much. He had brown eyes. The boy appeared to be relaxed, but with his skills Lukas could pick the small signs of nervousness from him. Lukas wasn't surprised since he didn't remember seeing the boy at the school before, which meant he was new and most likely starting just today. Almost everyone was nervous on their first day, especially if they were transferring to new school in the middle of the semester. After determining the cause to the boy's behavior and figuring the reason he was there, Lukas directed his attention elsewhere – he would learn more soon enough if the boy was in his class.

The teacher arrived and Lukas slipped inside the classroom and onto his seat which was in the back row and next to a window. He was seated there in almost every class since the teachers trusted him to listen and work quietly from there, unlike many other students. They would be having math now, which wasn't one of Lukas's favorite subjects but he still did just fine. Next class would be English and that he would be sharing with Arthur and Vladimir, a Brit and a Romanian, who shared his interest in mythology and magic.

A small, butterfly-like thing flew across the restless room without anyone else paying it any attention.

Yeah, then there was that. The secret Lukas had never told anyone but his little brother and he was unsure if Emil believed or even remembered it. It was also the main reason to his interest in everything magical and mythological. He saw things, creatures, no one else saw – or at least no one else ever looked at them or acknowledged them in any way. Lukas wasn't stupid enough to tell anyone; he knew it would fall under the category 'crazy'. Sometimes he entertained a thought that few others could see them too, but kept quiet about it for the same reason. Still, it would be too dangerous to ask around without being dragged into a mental ward.

Lukas let out a small, almost unnoticeable sigh at his thoughts and did his best to ignore the fairy, which wasn't easy. It was the size of his finger and radiated light, how do you ignore something like that, especially when she had so pretty wings? He knew it was a she because of the tinkling noise it made, males sounded different – don't ask how he found out. He ended up opening the window a little so the fairy could get out if she wanted. It was his lucky day since the fairy grew bored quickly and the slight breeze from the open window got her attention. Soon enough she was out of the classroom and Lukas closed the window carefully, but no one had noticed a thing. People didn't usually pay attention to him anyway with the exception of his friends.

When all the hassle had died down and only the new boy was standing awkwardly in front of the class, the teacher – whom everyone called General Winter – cleared his throat and spoke with his deep, rumbling voice:

"We have a new student joining us today, make him feel welcome." Then he turned his head and told the boy: "Please introduce yourself, and then you can go and sit next to Eduard. He sits there in the back row, the middle desk."

The boy nodded and faced the class. Lukas could see clearly how nervous he was, but he speculated that to others he seemed just slightly so. The boy gave a friendly smile, which to Lukas seemed honest even if it was nervous as well.

"Hello, I'm Tino Väinämöinen and you can call me just Tino. I'm transferring here starting today", the boy – Tino – said lightly. He had an accent which was vaguely familiar to Lukas, but not overly so. At least he knew it wasn't Norwegian like his, Danish, Swedish or Icelandic which his brother spoke. Tino didn't say anything more but walked to the place pointed to him. A short and informative introduction; Lukas could appreciate that. Some people went on and on about themselves for minutes, and Lukas was glad he didn't have to sit through one of those.

Eduard sat one desk pair right from Lukas, so Tino was headed his way. Lukas would've normally paid little to no attention to this, but something about the boy got his attention. His nervousness seemed to fade, that was normal… except that it faded a little too much. Seemingly Tino was quite relaxed as he sat next to Eduard, leaving one empty seat between Lukas and him, but there was something else, too. Interestingly enough Lukas couldn't put a finger on it, and this frustrated him to no end. He was supposed to be good at reading people, but while his instincts told him there was something beneath that seemingly relaxed surface, his eyes couldn't find it. He wasn't even sure why he thought there should be something else: Tino's body language was the perfect example of someone who was comfortable. Wait, that was just it. _Perfect_. Nobody's body language was a perfect example of something; it was way more complicated than that.

Lukas trusted his instincts, so Tino wasn't actually as relaxed as he seemed to be. The problem was that Lukas couldn't get a read on him, just the notion that it was too perfect to be real. And that in turn meant that this Tino was aware of body language, maybe even on the same level as Lukas. That led him to the real problem: if Tino paid enough attention, he might at least partly discover Lukas's secret. Lukas had to be more careful when this new guy was around, or he could catch him staring at thin air or some other reaction he had to fairies. Lukas's friends were used to his antics and didn't think anything about it, but someone who didn't just see but truly observed could make the link that he was seeing something everyone else couldn't. Lukas hadn't had a reason to mask his body language before, so it would be a challenge. If he was lucky he could pull it off and maybe get a glimpse of what Tino hid under his mask. Lukas knew how hard it would be to not slip for even a second, so either one of them would make a mistake at some point of time.

It would be very much like a game, Lukas mused. And the one to fail first would be revealing something they didn't want anyone else to see. Tino just didn't know he was playing – yet. It was just a matter of time when he would notice that Lukas wore a mask too, and Lukas guessed he couldn't resist the urge to figure out what was under that mask. The thing about being good at reading people was that one got used to knowing what people felt, and facing someone that one couldn't figure out was like a challenge thrown into one's face. Lukas knew that by masking his body language he was making himself a target for close inspection, which meant a greater risk of being caught. While continuing like normal would make him more invisible, he knew from experience that with enough time he would be discovered anyway. He had to take a risk and see what would come of it. Maybe Tino wasn't interested in reading people and he was worrying over nothing, but better be safe than sorry.

Secrets were a headache to keep. Lukas wondered what Tino wanted to hide from the world so badly.

* * *

 **Oh Lukas, soon you'll wish that was your biggest problem...**

 **I hope my unprofessional writing skills didn't put you off. This was the introduction, so there wasn't too much action, but it will come. The buildup, however, will take a while. Meanwhile Denmark will entertain you. Oh, and Iceland will be in this story too. For now there are no other pairings planned, but I can change my mind about that - especially since I've probably already made so many people upset by breaking up the usual pairing system. Nothing wrong with friendship, though, so it will be featured a lot as well, as you most likely noticed.  
**

 **Oh, and about Finland's eye color, I know it's violet but since it was brown in the anime, I got an idea how to combine these two. He has actually violet eyes, but they look currently brown for certain reasons you will find about later.**

 **English is not my first language, so I'm terribly sorry for all the grammatical mistakes.**

 **Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or for any other reason.**

 **\- Sumy**


	2. Chapter: The Game is On

The next lesson came way too soon. Lukas hadn't completed his work in class and would have a lot to do that evening. Instead he had a strategy: try not to bring attention to yourself, act as normal as you can and alter your body language only when needed. He thought this to be a good plan. The biggest fault in it was that he didn't know beforehand when he would need to mask his reactions, so he would need to be on his toes all the time. In a way it would be better to remain unreadable all the time, but that would be more noticeable, and not only to the person he wanted to hide from. The funny thing about people that Lukas had noticed was that they generally didn't pay too much attention to body language but did notice easily if it changed somehow. His friends would notice if he altered it too much. Altering only when needed and even then preferably taking something that was already there and covering the rest up with it was probably his best chance.

With a plan intact Lukas made his way to his next lesson. They had only a short break in between these lessons, so there was no time to find his friends, but the next break would be longer. There was a lot of chattering from the people around Lukas. Some of them parted ways to another lesson, but most of the class continued to have English. This group included Tino and Eduard, who seemed to get along really well. Eduard was Estonian and known as the smart and nerdy guy, but he was a nice person and people tended to leave him alone. Lukas was a bit nervous as he didn't know how well his plan would work, but currently he did not have to worry about that since Tino was busy laughing with Eduard.

Lukas guessed Tino used the same tactic as he had decided to use about drawing something that was already there. Most likely Tino was happy and relaxed on some level, and just used it to cover everything he didn't want others to see. Somehow that made Lukas feel a bit better about this newcomer as it meant he wasn't outright lying and Lukas could make something out of him. The group navigated through the crowded hallways. The classroom's door was already open when they arrived and slowly but surely everyone flooded in and on to their seats. It was one of those boring classrooms with straight, white walls and desks in rows, just like every other school and classroom Lukas had ever been in. If he had designed the classrooms, they would be much more interesting – especially since he wasn't an architect and the walls would probably come down. But at least it would be more interesting than this.

In class it soon became evident that it wasn't Lukas' lucky day after all. He had entirely forgotten that they were supposed to pair up for a project starting today. It was one of those "read a book and make a presentation" type of projects which weren't too hard but could be annoying if the book was boring. The good news was that they were allowed to choose their partners _and_ the book to read. Not too bad. The bad news? Arthur and Vladimir had already paired up, which left Lukas sitting alone at his desk and pondering who would be the other one to be left over. It didn't take long for someone to clear their throat behind him, managing to startle him at the process.

"Do you have a partner already?" said someone with an accented voice that revealed the speaker's identity to Lukas before he had fully turned around. Of course it had to be Tino, the one person he wanted to avoid. He couldn't lie, though, so he would just have to curse the deity that had brought this upon him.

"No", Lukas answered shortly, not caring for polite introductions. It would also be better for Tino to see him as someone distant. Instead of shying away, Tino smiled.

"Could you work with me, then? I have to warn you, though; English is not my strongest subject. I'm Tino, by the way", Tino said still smiling.

He seemed like a nice person, he had a warm smile and Lukas noted he was very cute. Lukas would never admit it, but he had a soft spot for everything cute; he had an absolutely adorable pink stuffed bunny that he was sure to hide when his friends were visiting. Most of them still knew about his soft spot for cuteness, but it never seemed to be a problem before now. Still Lukas allowed himself to relax a bit; maybe this wouldn't be so bad. It was also quite normal for people to be a bit nervous with new people at first, so relaxing a bit at this point wouldn't be too suspicious. He responded:

"Very well. I'm Lukas."

"Thank you. I was a bit afraid I couldn't get a partner as I don't know anyone else but Eduard, and he had promised to pair with Ravis", Tino said as he sat next to Lukas.

"Don't mention it. We should pick a book", Lukas said, getting straight to work. No matter how nice Tino was, it would be better to get this project over with.

"Are there any restrictions?" Tino asked.

"Apparently it has to be in English. That's it", Lukas responded. It was a poor attempt at humor in his opinion, but Tino let out a small laugh.

"Fair enough. Do you have in mind something that you'd like?" Tino asked with a curious look. Lukas decided to trust that he really was curious, as Tino didn't seem to lie, just hide.

"Not really. I read mostly in Norwegian", Lukas answered with a shrug.

"Oh, so you're Norwegian? That's cool, I'm from Finland", Tino said, smiling brightly again. Lukas nodded; that would explain the accent Tino had and why it sounded a bit familiar – he had visited Finland two times when he still lived in Norway.

"What kind of books you mostly read, then? We could pick one from the same genre", Tino reasoned. Lukas raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why only my reading habits would matter?" he asked. Tino had to like something, too.

"I was trying to be polite. Besides, I like reading no matter what it is so what we choose isn't that important to me", Tino responded with a shy laugh.

Lukas narrowed his eyes; Tino's body language altered a bit, which most likely indicated that something was left unsaid. It was clear that Tino was truthful about liking pretty much everything, but there was something related to it that he wished to keep a secret. Lukas could only wonder and let his imagination fly; what was so bad related to reading that Tino didn't want anyone to know even by accident. Maybe he liked to read mostly some kind of erotic novels or something. Still, it seemed an awful lot of trouble to hide something like that especially when most people couldn't tell anyway – usually it was enough just not to say it aloud. Lukas decided to ignore it for now and continue the conversation:

"Very well. I read mostly folklore, fantasy and informative books, but the last one would make a terrible presentation."

"I agree, though it would be funny to see people's reactions", Tino responded with a laugh, "But I have nothing against folklore or fantasy, so we can read one of those. That still leaves us with quite many books to pick form." Lukas hummed in agreement, thinking a possible book. He preferred something he hadn't read yet. Then he got an idea:

"Hey, doesn't Finland have its own folklore? I have read a lot about the Norse mythology, but next to none about the Finnish one. We could read a book about that."

To Lukas's surprise, Tino grimaced before responding:

"Well yes, but that wouldn't be a good idea. The only ones possible are pretty much _Kalevala_ and _Kanteletar_ , and I'm unsure if the last one has even been translated to English. And _Kalevala_ is a poem, so while the translation is pretty much as good as it can be, it's still awful."

"As long as the lore is still intact, I think it is good enough for learning experiences", Lukas said. He didn't think it would be that bad, and since he couldn't read the original one, the translation was pretty much his only chance to read the book unless he learned Finnish. That was not going to happen, at least not now.

"You could pick anything as long as it is in English, and you want a translation of _Kalevala_. That's the first. Are we even allowed to pick translated books? I know it wasn't mentioned in the rules, but that could be because the teacher didn't think any of us would even think of choosing a translated book", Tino commented.

"Then it's Mr. Germania's fault for not mentioning the rule. He can't blame us for not reading his mind, so translations are free game", Lukas said with a shrug. He didn't believe the translation would be a problem, but if it did come up they had a good reason to have chosen one.

"If you insist. Well, at least we are getting a good opportunity to mess with the class. The lore does make somewhat sense when reading, but if you leave out the details while explaining, it will just sound insane", Tino said with a sigh. Lukas smiled a bit: messing with people and learning a new folklore sounded like his thing.

"Uh, I just thought of a problem: where we are going to find not only one but two copies of that book? It's not exactly popular outside Finland and the school library definitely doesn't have it, and it is a real possibility that the city library doesn't have it either", Tino explained suddenly serious. Lukas admitted that might be a problem.

"We'll have to see if we can find it. If we manage to find even one, we can share it. I'm a fast reader and we have few weeks to complete the project, so it should work", Lukas thought.

"Alright, I can search for it this afternoon as I'm probably more familiar with it", Tino said with a nod that seemed to be the final acceptance of the plan. Lukas responded with a nod of his own, after which Tino took a look at the clock on the wall.

"We still have some time before class ends. Don't we have lunch after the next lesson?" Tino asked.

"Yes", Lukas responded with a small nod. He was doing really well so far and it would look normal to talk, so he asked in turn:

"Speaking of next lesson, what do you have?"

"Computer class and after lunch I have history. What about you?"

"Norwegian. I also have history after lunch", Lukas answered. Norwegian was one of his favorite subjects and he liked history a lot as well. Mondays were good days for him in that aspect, there was only math that he didn't really fancy.

"Uh, could I sit with you in history? I don't know anyone in the school too well yet and Eduard doesn't have history with us", Tino asked.

Lukas was about to respond negative as he really shouldn't be around Tino more than necessary, but Tino was looking at him with puppy dog eyes full of hope. Dear gods, Tino was cute when normal, but with that face Lukas just couldn't bring himself to say no. He decided it wasn't the fault of his soft spot for cuteness, as anyone would have given in while having Tino looking at them like that. He was also half-sure Tino knew this very well and was using that look to manipulate everyone around him. Okay, maybe not, but never the less it still worked for Lukas.

"Yes, I can", Lukas said and stopped himself from letting out a defeated sigh. Doing that would be weird and Tino might suspect something.

Tino smiled brightly, which was still cute. Lukas told himself to get a grip. Yes, Tino was cute, anyone could see that, but it wasn't a good idea to let his guard down because of that. Not even if Tino seemed like a nice person as well – who knew what he was hiding. Lukas also didn't want to end up in a mental institute, so better not to mess this up.

Of course it couldn't continue to go so well. Lukas could see out of the corner of his eye a greenish fairy emerge from one of the desks one of the students, Ludwig, had just opened. The poor thing had probably been stuck there overnight and didn't seem to be happy. Lukas tried his best to remain like he was, but it was near impossible to ignore an angered fairy even if it was smaller than the previous one. He ended up having to gather the calmness he still felt and use it as a cover, being careful to alter his body language as little as possible. He tried his best, he really did, but perhaps the trying was the problem: when trying too much, it became either too perfect or not good enough. It was so easy to overdo it in the fear of underdoing it, as the right adjustment was nearly impossible. It would be way too complicated to show just enough something else but still cover things up and not be noticed. Lukas kept his eyes on Tino despite the fairy that was still making angry sounds at the background. The fairy was using very vile language.

And then Tino noticed the change. He seemed to be holding back his curiosity and confusion, but he did tilt his head a little to the right – probably a habit. Then he seemed to realize the same thing Lukas had noticed about him, as he straightened his head and raised his eyebrows a bit. Lukas didn't move, hardly even blinked. They stared into each other's eyes, both challenging and trying to figure what would happen next. Lukas also noticed that there was something strange about Tino's eyes: they were a weird shade of brown and while his eyes were otherwise lively, the color dimmed that liveliness down quite a bit.

After some time Tino smiled and broke the eye contact, shaking his head.

"Guess we need to be careful around each other, but you'd already know that. You still seem nice and honest about things, so I'd like to be friends despite that", Tino said while extending his hand.

Lukas looked at the offered hand. Tino did also seem honest and nice, even if he did have secrets, but so did Lukas. They knew about each other now, so the game was on anyway. Lukas knew that the reasonable thing to do was to stay as far away from Tino as possible, but he realized that Tino was ready to put his secrets on the line for a possible friendship – that was a gesture he could not wave aside. He was still arguing about it by himself, but deep inside he knew the outcome.

As Lukas took Tino's hand, he was unsure if he accepted a friendship or a challenge. Or maybe both. But few things were for sure: the fairy would have to get out of the classroom by itself, and Lukas was so screwed.

* * *

 **Well now, that's some recipe for trouble. Hope you enjoyed it.**

 **The next chapter will have Denmark and Sweden thrown into the mix; the guys can't stay in their little world for long.**

 **Kalevala is the national epic of Finland and is a bit of a chore to read, but it's pretty good if you like folklore. One of the epic's main characters is Väinämöinen... Also to make clear, the Finnish paganism is a religion of its own and it was the main religion in Finland before Christianity. Still paganism was apparently alive in parts of Finland as late as the early 20th century. History is fun.**


	3. Chapter: When the Coffee is Gone

Lukas stared at the school's coffee machine, dismayed. It was broken, and he was unsure if he wanted to cry or break it even more. He had ended up doing schoolwork and other things to the morning hours, and of course their household just had to have run out of coffee. Lukas needed his coffee, especially after a late night like that. He had thought to get coffee from the machine even if it was a bit bland and not strong enough, but it had caffeine so it would do in an emergency. Running out of coffee counted as an emergency. Lukas groaned and hit his head against a wall next to the useless machine. He would never make it alive through the day. Heck, anyone who came in contact with him wouldn't make it. Horrors are unleashed when the coffee is gone.

"Uh, are you okay?" came a question with a familiar voice. Looks like Lukas wasn't the only one to dwell in the school halls earlier than in the last minute. He still remained in his position; forehead against the wall, not looking at Tino who was there and most likely staring at him with a concerned expression.

"No. I'm dying", Lukas replied dead serious. As he hadn't had his daily dose of coffee, he wasn't sure if he was just messing with Tino or being serious. There was a moment of silence during which Tino probably tried to figure out if it was a joke or not.

"Let me guess: there's no coffee?"

Lukas tilted his head towards Tino so he could see the other, never breaking the contact between his forehead and the wall. To his annoyance, Tino was looking at him with a mixture of pity and amusement. What was so amusing in his suffering? To make it even worse, Tino had a thermostatic mug in his hands, and though it was hard to tell because of the distance between them, Lukas was pretty sure he smelled coffee.

"Whatever in this world could have led you to that conclusion", Lukas said, his voice dripping sarcasm. It was only a matter of time before the lack of coffee would seriously get to him, and instead of just being in a foul mood he would turn into a blood-seeking monster.

"Well, you were staring at that poor machine like you wanted to see it burn in hell before smashing your head into a wall. That's pretty much what people do when there's no coffee around", Tino explained with a shrug.

Lukas continued to stare, not sure if Tino was being serious and didn't receive the sarcasm-note or if he was poking fun at him. The staring did little to make Tino go away. Instead he looked at Lukas for a while, seemingly pondering something. Then he sighed, took off his backpack and opened it. Lukas, however, was not interested and turned his head back to look down, still against the wall like it was the only thing keeping him from giving up. He just wanted to be left alone in his misery.

"I usually don't do this, but you really seem to need it. I always have one with me for the afternoon", Tino said, his voice coming closer.

Lukas turned his head again and was greeted with the sight of a thermos flask being offered to him. He wondered briefly how Tino had gotten so close so silently, but the thermos was hogging all his attention. Lukas finally pushed himself away from the wall and reached out to grab the thermos. He was getting his hopes up about coffee, but tired not to in case it wasn't coffee after all. He took hold of the lid and rolled it off carefully. He then turned it upside down to serve as a cup before he clicked the thermos open and the wonderful scent of hot coffee came out of it. There were only few things that could make Lukas happier in that moment than the smell of the black, bitter drink.

Lukas gave a quick "thank you" to Tino before pouring as much as he could to his 'cup'. It tasted bitter and strong, and to his pleasure it didn't contain any sugar or milk, just like he liked it. The effect was almost immediate and Lukas felt a lot better already as he poured another cup, this time taking it more slowly. He then tore his eyes off the liquid to look at Tino, who was smiling and sipping from his own drink.

"Thank you. You're a lifesaver", Lukas stated while starting his third cup. He was feeling almost normal by now, perhaps being even in better mood than normal. Tino chuckled at his statement.

"Coffee does wonders, doesn't it? No one even dares to talk to me before I've had my first cup", Tino said. Lukas smiled slightly at the statement. It was hard to imagine people being afraid of Tino, but Lukas knew what the lack of coffee could do to a person.

"Yes, pretty much. I assume you drink it quite much, considering the amount you have with you", Lukas commented. He wasn't one to talk, though, as he had almost finished the entire content of the thermos.

"I usually have a refill in the afternoon. The morning dose only takes one so far", Tino said matter-o-factly. Lukas realized he had drunk what was probably supposed to be that afternoon coffee. He wasn't able to feel too bad about it, though.

"Thank you for giving me your coffee. I know how important it is. Are you able to get some more?" Lukas asked, and not just out of courtesy. Coffee was not to be taken lightly.

"It's fine; I'll just buy more after school. As long as this doesn't become a habit, it's not a problem", Tino said with a shrug.

"I can pay for it, this was my fault after all", Lukas offered. He might mess with people, but he wasn't an inconsiderate jerk. Tino shook his head.

"No need to", Tino answered. Lukas shrugged and went back to sip the coffee. He wasn't going to argue over something so trivial and he knew Tino didn't mind; he still knew when the body language was real.

There was a long moment of comfortable silence between them, during which Lukas finished the coffee. He handed the thermos back to Tino with a thankful nod. The hall was still quiet and empty for the moment, but one look at the clock on the wall told Lukas it wouldn't be for long.

"Oh, I almost forgot: I found a copy of _Kalevala_ ; the city library did have it after all. Only one copy, but it's something. Do you want to have it first?" Tino asked. Lukas nodded, so Tino handed the big book to him. It was old, dusty and not in a good condition, but the pages were intact so it would do. It looked like it had been lying in the storage room for a long time and the few people to read it hadn't been too kind on the book. To be fair it was quite big and hard to handle without a table.

"Lukas!" a voice shouted from the hallway. Tino and Lukas both turned to look, and to his dismay Lukas saw a glimpse of spiky blond hair before being nearly trampled over by a happy Dane. Lukas tried to push his friend away, but when that didn't work he grabbed Mathias' tie and yanked. That caused the annoying Dane to let go of him, but Lukas wouldn't let go of the tie yet.

"This is the second time in two days", Lukas told the annoyance. He didn't bother to explain further as Mathias would surely understand what he was talking about.

"But… you… weren't… at… the… gate", Mathias wheezed while trying to loosen the tie. Lukas let go of the piece of clothing for his friend's sake, but didn't drop the topic:

"Not a reason to jump on me. I was getting coffee. You are lucky I had some, or you'd be dead", Lukas told. Mathias, who had managed to loosen the tie, paled a little; he knew how Lukas was without his coffee. Mathias was one lucky Dane.

That was when Berwald wandered to the scene, apparently having followed Mathias. He took one look at Mathias' red neck and Lukas' stormy expression, and muttered:

"Not again."

"So this happens often, huh?" Tino spoke up. He had been following the chain of events and looked to be somewhat amused. Lukas scoffed a bit; Mathias jumping on him wasn't funny, with or without coffee.

"You have no idea", Berwald muttered with his broken accent. Lukas narrowed his eyes at him.

"Not my fault Mathias thinks it's a good idea", he said with disdain. The Dane, on the other hand, wasn't too interested in the conversation, but was looking at Tino.

"And who might you be?" Mathias asked. Berwald ignored Lukas to hear the answer as well.

"I'm Tino. I transferred to Lukas' class yesterday", Tino introduced himself with a warm smile. Mathias grinned right back at him and Berwald gave a nod.

"I'm Mathias, the King of Northern Europe, and this is Berwald. He's Swedish, so don't mind the accent", Mathias said. Lukas found it amazing that his grin didn't get smaller at all during the speech.

"We don't have a king in Finland, and Iceland doesn't have one either", Tino commented. Mathias pretended to look hurt at that, but Berwald seemed interested.

"You're from Finland?" he asked. Tino answered with a nod and a smile. Lukas was impressed as Tino didn't show signs of distress under Berwald's intense gaze. Of course he could be hiding those signs, but considering how intimidating Berwald looked to people who didn't know him it was still a good achievement.

"Hey, that's cool! I'm from Denmark, Lukas is from Norway and his little brother is from Iceland. We could be the Nordics!" Mathias near-shouted with excitement. The hallway was starting to fill up, so people were giving them weird looks.

"Well, Emil won't be in high school before next year, and you will graduate before that. Assuming you won't fail", Lukas commented. He was surprised he didn't oppose the idea more internally; Tino becoming friends with his friends meant spending even more time with him, which in turn meant bigger risk to get caught. On the other hand Lukas really liked Tino – he couldn't dislike anyone who gave him coffee in the morning – and all in all it would be hard for Tino to figure out what was going on. Tino would just see Lukas altering his body language at random times, so as long as he managed to cover his reaction, Tino couldn't connect the dots unless he saw the fairies too, which wasn't really a possibility.

However, Lukas' words didn't seem to have an impact to Mathias, who was still going on about them becoming best friends ever. Berwald was just standing there unaffected by Mathias' antics, but Tino seemed a bit overwhelmed. Lukas owed him a favor from the coffee, so he came to the rescue:

"Classes will start soon. We should move."

"Come on, we still have five minutes! Are you so eager to get rid of me?" Mathias asked with big, sad eyes. Damn Dane, he knew how Lukas was affected by those eyes. Still, he remained collected and ignored the look as he responded:

"You know I like to be early. And as much as I'd like to get rid of you, we will have breaks during which I'm sure you will not leave me alone."

"You sure are right about that!" Mathias laughed and gave Lukas a wink. Lukas rolled his eyes before taking off towards his first lesson of the day. He made it almost halfway through the hall before he realized that Tino was still standing with Berwald and Mathias, looking puzzled.

"Are you coming or not?" Lukas called him. That had the desired effect and Tino sprinted to catch him.

"How convenient that we have gym now", Tino commented, falling in step with Lukas after his sprint.

"Not sure about that. You didn't seem too eager to run", Lukas said with the same monotone as ever. He wasn't serious, but Tino's surprised half-laugh was funny.

"You don't seem too athletic yourself", Tino threw back. Lukas snorted, amused.

"You'd be amazed how deceptive looks can be", Lukas replied. Tino let out a burst of laughter, to which Lukas raised his eyebrow. He didn't sound that ridiculous, did he?

"I couldn't agree with you more", Tino said between his laughter. Huh, it had probably to do with something else after all. Well, he'd find out.

The rest of the journey was made in silence, but a comfortable one. Lukas could appreciate silence, and it did seem like Tino wasn't bothered by it, either. The halls were now filled with rushing students, which was one of the reasons Lukas liked to be early, as they managed to reach the boys locker room before the worst wave could come. The locker room was not too fancy, but it was clean; rows of lockers with benches situated under them and showers plus a toilet were included. It had been cleaned in the evening and as it was the first lesson of the day, it didn't smell yet.

Lukas went quickly to one of the lockers situated at the end of the row. He knew a rush would come soon and he wanted to have a locker with properly room around it. Tino apparently thought the same as he didn't take the locker next to Lukas but one opposite of him. Lukas changed his clothes fast-paced, but not hastily. By the time he was ready the locker room was filled with chatter and laughter, and some complaints about it being too early to exercise. Lukas was mildly surprised to notice that Tino was talking to people instead of changing clothes, but they weren't in a hurry yet so he sat down to wait for his new… friend? He had accepted the offered friendship, but he wouldn't exactly call Tino his friend, at least not yet. Not even if they got along well and Lukas was already messing with Tino sometimes. And to think that just the yesterday he had wanted to avoid Tino as much as possible. Things certainly hadn't gone as expected, but that didn't necessary mean they had gone badly.

Lukas was shaken from his thoughts when majority of the students had already moved in to the gym hall. The last few were just about done, leaving only Tino who was digging his clothes from his bag. Lukas shook his head.

"You know, we're going to be late if you just chatter away with everyone", he commented. Tino jumped a bit at the sudden sound before smiling a bit sheepishly.

"Sorry. You can go ahead, I don't want you to be late because of me", Tino said with a wave as he went back to fishing his clothes.

Lukas was about to roll his eyes and leave, but when he looked again he noticed certain stiffness in Tino's posture. Then it clicked: Tino wasn't just chattering away, he was trying to be left to change alone. If Lukas would be kind, he would take the hint and leave. Too bad for Tino, Lukas wasn't kind and he was very curious as to why.

"I'll just wait, it won't be a problem", Lukas responded instead, leaning even more into the bench. Tino took a wide-eyed glance at him, which turned into suspicious glare as he realized that Lukas knew very well what was going on.

"It's almost like you want to watch me undress", Tino said with a slight sting in his voice. Lukas couldn't help it; Tino had just given him a way too good opening:

"Of course I do. I like all genders, so watching anyone undress is a win for me." While Lukas was purely teasing Tino, the remark from his preferences was true.

Tino turned a delightful shade of red before muttering something unintelligible and turning away. Lukas thought he heard the words "stupid" and "teasing", and something about the limits of good taste. Despite that Tino took his shirt off as he began to change into his gym clothes. That was the moment when Lukas found out why Tino didn't want company when changing: his back was covered in scars. Most of them looked pretty old, and they were in several different layers. They varied from some scratches to quite big and long wounds which must have hurt. Few of the scars went over to his arms and legs, but not alarmingly so – Tino could wear a T-shirt and shorts without questions. Tino kept his back at Lukas all the time, so Lukas could only guess if there were any injuries on the front too, or if Tino just didn't want to show his face. The source of the scars did rise questions, but Lukas knew he wouldn't get an answer if he asked so he simply kept quiet. Still, Lukas could understand the situation a bit better now and he guessed that whatever secrets Tino was hiding had more to do with him in person, just like Lukas'. Also while Lukas wasn't a perv like his previous comment could suggest, he did kind of check Tino out. In his defence he had done it to pretty much everyone, and his thoughts never went further than that.

Finally Tino was ready and Lukas got up. They got to the gym just in time for the lesson to start and so didn't get yelled at by the teacher.

Lukas had this feeling of forthcoming, like revealing one thing had started a process. A slow process, yes, but something as big and unstoppable as a landslide.

* * *

 **Poor Lukas had to nearly go a day without coffee, and Tino has clearly gone through so me rough times. Both cause problems.**

 **Also I'm not going to put you through Kalevala, so don't worry.**

 **I will be going hiking for a bit over a week, so there will be no updates before June. Sorry about that.**


	4. Chapter: Of Frienship and Strategies

It was official: Lukas was a geek.

True, it wasn't like he hadn't known it before, but he had been staring at empty air for around 15 minutes after closing the cover of _Kalevala_ on the last page. He was still lost in the ancient lands of heroes and powerful Words. It happened to him often while reading folklore, but most folklore was something just a regular person could very well enjoy. _Kalevala_ was on a different level of folklore enthusiasm, and Lukas had just apparently reached that level.

"This is Earth sending yet another message to Lukas. Do you copy?"

Lukas snapped his head towards the annoying voice as his eyes regained focus and, quite unsurprisingly, the first thing he saw was a wide, face-splitting grin from a certain spiky-haired blond. Lukas still hadn't gotten it out of Mathias that how much hair gel he used to keep his hair up like that. Not that he was particularly interested.

"My receptor is broken. Go talk to the door or something", Lukas said while making a vague gesture away from himself.

"Luuuukaas, I'm your guest", Mathias said with a pout.

"Oh, excuse me then, you can just get out", Lukas responded while opening a random page of the book for a closer inspection. He had already somewhat planned how to present the book to the class. Tino had been right; it was just perfect for messing with people unfamiliar with it. Just too bad that it wouldn't make the book any more popular, but then again no one would probably read it no matter how they presented it.

At least the Dane was correct about being a guest; they were currently in Lukas' room after an exhausting school day. Five fairies had decided to make an appearance, plus one troll taking a stroll on the school grounds. Six times he had gone through the complicated procedure of trying to act normal while being stared down by Tino, who had by now apparently become a permanent part of their group. Not that it was a huge surprise: Mathias was keeping them all together and Tino had befriended them all, even Berwald who seemed to be quite fond of the generally happy Finn. Then again Tino had probably befriended just about everyone as he seemed to radiate happiness that could make even the grumpy cases agreeable. Though Tino was polite and generally well-behaved, Lukas had witnessed his colorful use of swearwords when he was a bit clumsy and hit his head or toes or dropped something every now and then. But back to the Dane, who apparently was for once affected by the endless teasing that Lukas inflicted upon him.

"Do you really mean that?" Mathias asked with his best kicked puppy look. Lukas felt the cute-effect on him, and as they were in private he sighed and without lifting his gaze from the book he replied:

"No, you idiot. If I wanted you gone, you would be; trust me."

From the corner of his eye he could see Mathias smile so brightly that it could probably melt the North Pole. A small, almost unnoticeable smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. However, he regretted his answer soon enough as the Dane began to whine:

"Why are you just reading a book? Can we do something? We should eat! And play! I want to do something, this is boring. Why am I even here if you are just going to ignore me?"

Lukas sighed and slammed the book closed, immediately regretting taking his feelings out on the poor, innocent and rugged book, and swiftly tapped the cover few times as an apology. He then turned to face the annoyance that had moved to lie on his bed. Lukas would get nothing done while the Dane was around, so better just leave it for later. Mathias was lying on his back, keeping all four of his limbs towards the ceiling. Lukas arched an eyebrow at that.

"What are you, an opossum playing dead?"

"Nah, just being bored", Mathias responded with a laugh and rolled over. Lukas shook his head.

"Everyone doesn't need to recognize your existence all the time", he commented.

"I feed of attention. If you don't feed me with it, I'll starve and fade away", Mathias said dramatically, making Lukas huff and shake his head again. If things continued like this, he would end up with a scattered brain from all the headshaking he was doing. Actually he was surprised he hadn't ruined his brain already from all the years he had been dealing with the Dane.

Lukas and Mathias had known each other for a time a younger child might call 'forever'. Lukas had been seven and he had just arrived to the new country, leaving his beloved Norway behind. It had been winter, which did not differ too much temperature-wise from the one he was so accustomed to. He had been standing in the middle of a new playground, all bundled up in his winter clothes and of course wearing his cross pin, a gift from his grandparents who stayed in Norway. He had worn the pin from the day they left; it reminded him of home. He hadn't known really any English yet, so he couldn't communicate well with the other children and was thus excluded from all the activity. Then this one blonde kid with a huge grin had approached him and started talking excitedly while making wild gestures, but Lukas had not understood a thing and had just stared the active child passively. He had been slowly getting on Lukas' nerves. Then the kid had apparently realized that Lukas couldn't understand anything, or at least he had stopped talking and had just stared back for a moment, before disappearing somewhere. It took only a few seconds for a snowball to hit Lukas in the back of his head. That had started a snow war between the two, which had ended up in two very wet and disheveled children. But each day after that the kid would come up to Lukas, babble something and then find ways to talk to him in a way he could comprehend. Though even before Lukas managed to learn the language, he could tell that his new friend was just spitting annoying stories about nonsense.

The annoying part hadn't gone anywhere, but Lukas felt that Mathias stuck to him like glue with duct tape on top. Even though Lukas had a peculiar way of showing affection, he really did appreciate the friendship. Mathias was annoying, but he was a true friend who accepted Lukas like he was, taking the teasing in a stride. And when Lukas had realized he was bisexual and Mathias had managed to squeeze the information out of him, Mathias had grinned and asked if Lukas found him attractive. Lukas still gagged at the thought: true, Mathias was fairly good-looking, but thinking like that about his best friend was like thinking that about his own brother. Lukas had slapped Mathias in the back of his head and told him he was an idiot.

"Are you two done with throwing compliments at each other? The pizzas arrived", a silver-haired boy said from the doorway. Lukas turned to look at his little brother and noticed the absence of the loudmouthed puffin that Emil had as a pet; also recieved as a gift from their grandparents. The puffin, named Mr. Puffin, was probably in Emil's room waiting for the food.

"There is no way in the world I'd compliment that idiot. And just because our parents are away tonight doesn't mean I'll let you watch movies all night; we're having school tomorrow", Lukas said strictly. Emil crossed his arms.

"You're not my mother, I don't have to listen to you", he said rebelliously while turning to walk away.

"No, I'm your **big brother** , so you have to listen to me", Lukas responded. Emil threw an irritated look behind his shoulder.

"Stop it! I won't call you that!" Ah, he knew Lukas so well.

"Big brother…"

"Ugh!" Emil exclaimed and stomped away with his pizza, most likely to lock himself in his room.

"You guys still going at it?" Mathias asked, clearly trying not to laugh at the exchange.

"Occasionally. Come on, we should get our food before it goes cold", Lukas told the annoyance and headed downstairs. Emil could sometimes be so difficult, but what else to expect from a hot-headed teenager.

The next morning Lukas showed no mercy to one tired little brother. Emil had paid no heed to Lukas' commands and was paying the price now. He had dark bags under his tired-looking violet eyes and Lukas was trying to put his messy hair in order despite his protest in the middle of all the yawning. Lukas had never seen anyone else with violet eyes than his brother, not to even mention the naturally silver hair on so young person. Together with the fine facial features that resembled Lukas', Emil was quite the looker, but very moody and shy.

Finally Lukas managed to get everything ready and dragged his brother out of the door to the biting morning cold. Winter had begun in earnest, and a thin layer of half-frost, half-snow covered the ground. Maybe they would soon be having snow covering everything. Lukas didn't mind; even if it was cold, it felt sort of homey.

Everyone was already waiting for Lukas at the school gate, where they had a habit to gather at the beginning of the day. Emil slipped away before they could reach the group, disappearing from sight. Lukas wasn't too worried, though, as Emil usually used the gate that led straight to the secondary school's grounds. If his brother even dared to think about skipping the day, not only Lukas would have him but their parents also, and hopefully Emil knew it.

Mathias tried his usual greeting and proclaimed that he missed Lukas even though he had stayed with him quite late to the evening before Lukas had shooed him out. Tino and Berwald were chatting about something, but both stopped and gave him a nod as a greeting. Tino also smiled warmly.

The day went on as usual, but Lukas was a bit luckier today as not one fairy or other magical creature had made an appearance, and there was only one lesson left: English. It was also the last lesson of the week and after it would come the sweet freedom of two whole days. During those days Lukas could read his books and as the weather looked nice, take a walk in the forest nearby. And maybe be annoyed by a certain Dane.

But first things first; he had to survive one more lesson with Tino. The two of them took a seat next to each other and Lukas dug the battered big book from his backpack. He regarded it with respect as he pushed it towards Tino.

"You're done reading it?" his companion asked. Lukas nodded.

"It was better than I expected from your talk. It was fascinating", Lukas commented. Tino smiled in an endearing way, the best way that Lukas could think to describe it was soft amusement. Wait, since when had he found Tino's smile endearing? He was growing soft, it seems.

"Glad to hear that you liked it. Maybe it's just me as I've read the original", Tino said with a shrug. He was still smiling a smile so soft Lukas could have stuffed pillows with it – squishy, smooth pillows that everyone would absolutely love.

"You've read it? I thought you just knew the lore. You know, like people know what happens in the Bible yet not many have actually read it, or read just parts of it. Are we going to just think about the presentation then?" Lukas asked slightly apologetically as he hadn't thought to ask about it. On the other hand Tino had said that anything would do, and had not said he had read it before.

"Yes, but in Finnish, so I do have to actually read it again. I know the story, though, so we can still start thinking how to present it", Tino responded and sounded unworried about it.

"No one would know that you haven't read it in English, you know. You don't have to", Lukas told his kind-of-friend. He didn't see why Tino would have to go through the effort and as Tino had read the book already it wouldn't affect his ability to work on the presentation, so Lukas wouldn't mind.

"Nah, it wouldn't feel right. It's not too hard anyways", Tino said with a reassuring smile. Lukas shrugged; if Tino wanted to read the book, he certainly didn't have any reason to tell him not to.

"As long as we can work on the presentation, go ahead. Could you meet up some day after school?" Lukas asked calmly, though he did feel a bit nervous as that would be the first time they would see each other outside of school. He had gotten used to all the changes in school, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to let Tino any closer to his private life. Then again he had few other options as they could never finish it on the lessons.

"Hmm, I could probably meet you tomorrow, as long as we finish before three o'clock", Tino suggested.

Lukas was taken aback; it was so soon! But then again, why not? They would have to meet up anyway and this way Lukas could have it done and be over with it. He would have little time to prepare, but Saturday was fine for him.

"Okay. Your place or mine?" Lukas asked. Tino seemed to ponder the question for a moment and then looked at a Lukas like he was trying to figure out the next move on a chessboard.

"I'd prefer your place", Tino stated simply. Lukas looked closely at him, but he was unable to see discomfort or any other signs that Tino would be having an issue with Lukas coming over. Lukas was intrigued about Tino's situation in general and was tempted to argue about the place. Then again he had asked, giving Tino the chance to choose first and as he could not find any signs of something secret and hidden, he decided to just accept it.

"Deal. It's probably time we switch numbers anyway. We can meet up somewhere we both know and then go to my place from there", Lukas said.

Tino nodded and smiled, and Lukas couldn't see any signs of relief or something else that might have given away what Tino was thinking. It seemed like a fair suggestion and hones happiness that Lukas had accepted. Maybe Tino was simply as curious as Lukas – a real possibility. And if Lukas was lucky, he could maybe throw him a bit off-balance in a foreign environment and get something out of him. Probably not anything major like information about the scars, but perhaps a hint to what Tino was hiding about his reading habits. Even a small piece of information would help Lukas to form a little bit more of the puzzle Tino had given him.

* * *

 **I think they might be in Canada...**

 **I'm back now, what a trip it was. And I'm bringing you this chapter, though I'm not completely happy with this. But hopefully it's ok and the next chapter will be better. At least lets hope so.  
**


	5. Chapter: Curiosity Strikes

On Saturday morning the rising sun revealed a white blanket covering the ground, trees, cars, houses and everything else that used to be in plain sight. It wasn't a thick layer of snow, but it was enough for footprints to be left in it without revealing the ground. It was the start of a white winter that would hopefully stay white till spring. But like everyone knew, the temperatures weren't yet constant and the layer of snow might still melt into a mix of slush and mud before the snow would come to stay. Nobody liked that.

Lukas was up earlier than he normally would on a weekend, but he needed time to prepare for the visit of Tino. Not that he really had anything to do except to read, but he needed the time for his mental preparations. He knew he shouldn't worry about it too much, but the prickling nervousness together with the excitement caused by the snow made him feel edgy. Lukas couldn't say he loved the snow itself, but he did love the feeling of home it gave him; he remembered Norway's mountains, so different from the forested area they were now living in, but the cold was something that connected both of the places. Not to say Lukas wasn't fond of Canada, but nothing could erase the childhood years he had spent in Norway.

When the time for the battle grew close, Lukas put on his jacket and gloves and stepped outside to the wintery air. It was colder than the weather had been so far, but not really cold yet for a normal winter. Lukas' and everyone else's breath fogged enough for it to be sometimes hard to tell if a person was smoking or not. Lukas hated to inhale the secondhand smoke, so he really tried to avoid smokers, but in the first weeks of winter it was difficult to remember how to distinguish fogging breath and smoke – it got easier when the winter progressed.

Tino was already waiting him in front of the bookstore they both knew and thus had agreed to meet in front of it. Lukas received a wave for a greeting, and he himself gave a nod. Lukas noticed that Tino wasn't wearing gloves and even his jacket didn't seem thick enough for the weather. Maybe he was wearing a warm sweater underneath? At least Tino didn't show any signs of feeling the cold as he followed Lukas to his home. Lukas himself had dressed warmly enough, so he found the whiteness and the crispy cold air refreshing.

The journey was made in silence. Many thought Tino to be a talkative person, but he said surprisingly little when there was no real need to. Lukas still didn't know what his reasons to chatter sometimes were, but at least with him Tino fell easily to a comfortable silence that neither of them broke without having actually something to say. Lukas liked it. It was so peaceful, not needing to talk or being constantly talked to. The tension he had felt before seemed to drip away with every silent moment, and when they arrived to his front door Lukas felt much more confident about the visit.

Once inside they removed their shoes and jackets. Tino had a warm-looking hoodie under his jacket, but Lukas couldn't still understand how he could wear such a thin jacket in this weather. Oh well. He led the Finn to the living room, as they would have more space there. Lukas' room wasn't that small, but it was always a pain to try and get two people to work on a desk meant for one. Besides his parents had gone shopping and Emil was out with his friend, so they had the whole house to themselves and could work in peace.

"My notes are on the table. You can take a look at them while I make some coffee", Lukas told his guest, not even bothering to ask if Tino would take coffee; he knew the answer already.

While Lukas watched the coffee drip, he heard the front door open and close so he peeked out of the kitchen door, conveniently placed between the living room and the corridor, and saw the instantly recognizable silver hair of his brother.

"Emil? What are you doing here so early?" Lukas asked, confused. Emil wasn't supposed to be home before evening, but for some reason he was there.

"Kaoru had to go home. Something to do with a surprise birthday party for his sister, which had apparently been kept secret from him, too", Emil responded clearly annoyed. Well, Lukas could hardly blame him.

"That's too bad. I'm working on a school project with Tino, so try to keep quiet now that you are here", Lukas told his brother before disappearing to the kitchen again. He heard Emil going to the living room and the short introduction he and Tino had. Before Emil made it to the stairs, Lukas reminded him:

"You still haven't called me big brother!"

"Shut it!" he received as an extremely annoyed answer, followed by stomping sounds up the stairs. Lukas was amused.

"You do that a lot?" Tino asked when Lukas returned to the living room. Lukas shrugged a little. It wasn't exactly personal or uncommon knowledge, so he didn't mind telling the story to Tino while putting the steaming mugs on the table and sitting on the sofa next to his guest:

"Sometimes; it's something that came up when we were kids. We didn't originally know we were brothers as our parents divorced when Emil had just been born and our mother moved to Iceland with Emil. Of course we both knew we had a brother, but as we never saw each other we didn't know what the other looked like. So when we met, which was quite a coincidence, we didn't recognize each other. Back then I scolded him about something I don't even remember anymore, and he got angry and said I wasn't his brother so I had no right to scold him. We got to know the truth soon after that, and it started what you just saw."

"Oh, wow. Do you live together now, then?" Tino asked, clearly surprised by the story. Well, it wasn't exactly normal background for a family, so nothing weird about that, Lukas supposed.

"Yes, while here in Canada our parents decided to try again. For now it has worked, but it does make things uncomfortable every now and then", Lukas responded. Tino laughed a little, the corners of his eyes crinkling and his face brightening in an adorable way.

"I can believe that. Let's hope for the best. But back to why I'm here; your notes are good. While I was reading I noticed that some parts don't translate that well, especially the part of _Tuonela_ was pretty unclear. I mean, if I hadn't read the Finnish one I wouldn't be quite sure what was descripted", Tino commented. Lukas raised an eyebrow, and no more was needed for Tino to elaborate:

"The part where Väinämöinen needs words for the boat and goes to the place that reminds somewhat hell or something."

Now Lukas knew what part they were talking about, but something just clicked in his head when Tino said "Väinämöinen". Wasn't that the exact same name he had told to be his surname? Lukas didn't blame himself for not noticing before as he had never seen Tino's last name in a written form. He found it amusing.

"Are you talking about yourself or the character?" Lukas asked, not missing the chance. Tino rolled his eyes and groaned.

"Please, I've got enough of that in Finland. Not my fault it's my family name", he commented, but not without a half-amused shake of his head. It seemed like he found it funny on some level, too.

"If you insist. But tell me more about this _Tuonela_ ; that part was pretty confusing indeed", Lukas said, ready to drop the teasing for the sake of getting more information on this new obsession of his. He tended to obsess about folklore one place at a time. Estonia might be up next, as he had heard they had lot in common with the Finnish one. There was surprisingly lot of folklore in the world, so there would be enough to obsess for years to come.

"It's the Finnish place for dead, so in a way hell is not that far off description. It's mostly underwater or underworld, sometimes described as a bit of both. You have to cross the black underworld river to get there, and _Tuoni_ is the one to rule it. It's neither heaven nor hell; you just enter it by death. Some versions say the dead sleep there for eternity, some say that they sleep there only as long as someone remembers them on earth and then they'll disappear from existence entirely. The thing is that it was believed to be a physical place. If you manage to trick _Surma_ , the guardian of the place, you can enter it and if you are real lucky, come back as well. Shamans were believed to be able to travel there spiritually and to bring back knowledge from the dead. That's the short version", Tino explained.

Lukas took this in like a sponge. It was interesting how there were some similarities to some other folklore, but yet it managed to be unique. He found this trait to be very interesting in all folklore he read. What really intrigued him about _Tuonela_ was that there was no judgement, no dividing to "good" and "bad" people, which happened surprisingly often in folklore. In general _Kalevala_ seemed to be far less about good triumphing over bad and such; it was just pretty epic story – and in this case epic in its original meaning as well as in the common speech one.

They talked and planned, both agreeing that no matter what they did, people would still not read the book, so they could just go overboard with their presentation. Maybe someone would get interested, who knew. At some point Tino laughed and said that it would seem like the Finns would have been eating a bit too much mushrooms while coming up with all they were about to present. Lukas smiled slightly, and agreed. Then again most folklore was like that, but it would be fun to see the faces of their classmates when they presented something so… psychotic, yes, that would perhaps be the right word for the weirdness that would be ensured.

The hours went by, and the topic had moved away from their almost-finished presentation some time ago. They had needed a break and Lukas was very pleased how much they had accomplished in the time they had. Tino turned out to be a very efficient worker, and Lukas had to tell him to take a break in order for him to stop. Their break of course went on for longer than intended, as Tino was keen to hear about other folklore as well, and Lukas was eager to tell his knowledge to someone who cared to listen. This didn't surprise Lukas that much, as he had already deducted that Tino was the kind of person who liked learning for the sake of it.

What did surprise him however, were the answers he got when their topic turned to music. Apparently they both liked metal. Lukas himself was more into black metal when Tino liked heavy metal and power, but he did listen to black metal occasionally and Lukas was familiar with the most known artist in the other categories of metal. And of course Tino thought that Nightwish was awesome, and Lukas didn't oppose to that. Nightwish was one of the few other metal bands he listened. Lukas himself brought up Burzum, naturally. To his delight Tino admitted listening to the band, as well as Lustre. Lukas had to admit that he liked Tino a bit more now. Berwald actually did listen to metal, but Mathias was not that much into it and since Lukas didn't really talk that much with Berwald he rarely got the chance to discuss his musical tastes.

Soon it was noon already and they both were growing hungry, so they decided to make dinner before Tino would leave. Lukas wasn't planning on anything fancy, just some salmon made quickly in the oven and little bit of rice and salad with it should do.

"I should warn you that my cooking skills are far from excellent. It would probably be the best if I took the salad", Tino said shyly, mussing his hair in embarrassment. It was so adorable that Lukas barely remembered to nod before turning away. How could anyone resist that face?

"I don't know if I should trust you with knives, though", Lukas said while taking out the ingredients. Tino chuckled at that.

"Oh, I can handle knives, alright. I'm from Finland, remember?" Tino said with a laugh. Lukas liked the way his eyes were laughing as well before shaking his head mentally and wondering what the heck had gotten into him. But yeah, he had forgotten that the Finns were within the Nordic countries (and Russia too, if he had heard correctly) known as the knife-maniacs. There were more weapon-related things to be said from Finland, but the knives were the most known thing.

Lukas pushed the salad towards Tino and started to prepare the salmon. Not much to do, just some salt and pepper and then to wait for the oven to warm up. The rice would have to be cooked a little later, as the fish would take up to an half an hour to be ready. Although they had just talked for a long period of time, they fell into a comfortable silence easily again. Tino was smiling and seemed a lot more relaxed than in school, and this time for earnest. Actually, Lukas couldn't see anything out of place in Tino's body language. Strange that he hadn't noticed that earlier; usually he was much more alert to these changes. He had been more relaxed himself, though, so that would do as an excuse.

It was just a bit weird, as Tino pretty much alternated his body language all the time, at least in school he did. Lukas had never caught him without it before, and the happiness seemed so natural that he was entirely convinced that at least that part was real in school as well. But why didn't he have a need to do it now if he did in school? That Lukas was pondering as he leaned on the counter and watched Tino slicing the salad, cucumber and tomatoes. He hadn't been lying about the knife as he handled it with practiced moves. Lukas noted how Tino's brows were slightly furrowed in concentration, but how it didn't affect the corner of his mouth that stayed stubbornly in a happy smile. Something in Lukas softened a bit at that sight. He wondered briefly what had happened for Tino to get those scars he had seen, but still stay such a positive person, but his musings were stopped as Tino got the salad ready and turned to face Lukas, smiling.

Lukas shook himself out of it and noticed that the oven had warmed up, so he put the fish in it. Then there was really nothing left to do but wait for it to be ready, and to remember to cook the rice.

They set the table for three as they were waiting, and Tino went to the living room to gather his stuff as he would have to leave after lunch. Lukas still hadn't asked where, and he wasn't really keen on it; they had been doing well with each other and Lukas didn't want to ruin that. He really wasn't that curious, or at least he tried to convince himself that.

As he was readying the rice he heard Emil come down the stairs – or rather he just heard someone come down the stairs, but whom else could it be. Emil and Tino apparently picked up a small conversation to which Lukas didn't first pay attention to. But after he heard his own name being mentioned he started to listen, and who could really blame him.

"-he seems like a nice guy" Obviously Tino. Sadly he didn't catch the beginning of the sentence or of the conversation, so he had no idea in which context he had come up or why they were talking about him.

"Well, he's an annoying jerk most of the time." That would be Emil. Lukas had to admit that it hurt a little. Yes, he did tease his brother, but the idea wasn't to be a jerk, at least not too much.

"I think he just cares about you. He seems to have a habit of teasing people he likes and cares about." Okay, Lukas knew that Tino had figured that out, but there was no need to announce it to other people like that. On the other hand Tino was right and hopefully Emi would notice it too.

"It's not fun! You just haven't experienced it yet." Well, Lukas had been teasing Tino a bit more lately… Wait, that would mean he was also caring about Tino more, which was not really on his bucket list. Then again, who was he kidding; he obviously liked Tino well enough to tease him.

"You should be more accepting towards your brother. It's just how he does it." Right now Lukas wasn't sure if he liked Tino or not. So embarrassing to be talked about like that, yet he wanted Emil to be in better terms with him.

Emil was silent, so Lukas assumed he was pouting. He was probably right, as Tino continued, but with a lowered voice so that Lukas had to sneak to the doorway to hear:

"Hey, I had a brother too. I used to think he wasn't the best brother, but now I really wish I'd have appreciated him more; he was just trying his best. I wish I had a wonderful brother like you do."

Lukas was surprised. Tino had a brother at some point of time? What had happened?

"What happened to him?" Emil's voice was just as quiet as Tino's. It seemed that it was Lukas' lucky day this time around.

"We got separated; I don't know where he is now. But he is not here with me", Tino answered, sounding sad. Well, it kind of was. Lukas decided to stop his eavesdropping there, as the conversation seemed to still. And the rice was threatening to boil over, which would be really hard to explain as he had no reason to be distracted.

Lukas managed to salvage the rice, and soon everything was ready to eat. He summoned the help of the other two to carry the food to the table, and they enjoyed their simple lunch, mostly in silence. Sometimes they complimented the food or commented on other things, but mainly they were just eating in a comfy atmosphere.

After the meal Tino helped to do the dished, even when Lukas told him that there was no need to. They were quite the duo, throwing dishes for each other to catch among other things to optimize the cleaning time. Tino laughed and even Lukas let out a chuckle when something almost fell. Luckily all the dishes survived the ordeal as the only things they actually did drop were the forks.

Suddenly it was all over and it was time for Tino to leave. The relaxed and comfy atmosphere seemed to evaporate as they both realized this. Tino shuffled awkwardly and said he was sorry they couldn't finish the presentation. Lukas just swept it aside, telling him they would have time. He also offered to walk with him back to the store to ensure he wouldn't get lost, and that offer was taken.

That was how Lukas found himself stuffing his cloak in a bag in a hurry; he had decided that since he was leaving the house he might as well go to a walk to one of the forests nearby. He liked to have a cloak to do that, as the magical creatures paid a lot more attention to him like that. Maybe it was a stupid stereotype that wizards and such wore cloaks, but maybe there was a reason to that. Lukas hadn't tried to do any magic (he wouldn't dare), but in the light of all things he did believe that magic exited.

When they stepped outside it was snowing again, and Lukas found joy in it. Based on the look on Tino's face, he did too. There was this soft smile Lukas had come to know, and in silence he adored it in a way. He still wanted to stuff pillows with it, though, so he wasn't getting too sappy yet. He thought there was nothing wrong in admiring the beautiful things in the world, even if some might find it creepy. Maybe the fairies brought him another perspective or something, but he seemed to think that a lot of things were beautiful.

Then it was time to say goodbye, the snow still falling peacefully. As Lukas watched Tino to walk away, the curiosity he had tried to keep down peaked up again. He really should just turn and go to be with his fairies. He really shouldn't even think of it. But there was one thing Lukas knew about himself, and that was that he could never resist a challenge. Would it be easier to just ask? Yes. Would it be as exiting? No. And it possibly wouldn't be as revealing.

So Lukas made the obvious choice: he dug out his cloak to hide his face with the hood (otherwise it was much too outstanding, but hiding his face was more important) and left after Tino.

Yeah, he really shouldn't be doing this. On the other hand he shouldn't see magical creatures either. He just couldn't wait what he would find out.

* * *

 **Oh dear, Lukas... What is he getting himself into?**

 **Sorry to have taken an entire week with this, I've had some personal problems. Thank you so much for the reviews, guys! It's nice to know the story is appreciated. Hopefully this chapter was at least worth the wait, the next one shouldn't take as long.**


	6. Chapter: Curiosity Killed the Cat

The snowfall thickened.

Lukas was thankful of it as he trailed Tino, making sure to keep his distance but still be close enough to not lose him from his sight. It was surprisingly hard. It didn't help that people were giving him weird looks – must be the cloak. He didn't really understand why cloaks weren't worn more often as they were extremely practical and yet comfortable; only if one was doing something a bit more active a cloak would be on the way. Humans were weird sometimes. Still he seemed to be lucky, as Tino didn't look back when he walked through the streets where the snow was already turning dirty and slushy as people and cars mixed and trampled it.

They didn't live in a big city. Actually, one might even call it a town instead, but for someone coming from a country like Norway it counted as a city. There was quite much of forest even within the city, but especially on its outskirts where they now were; on the other side of the road stood shops and houses, while the other side was forested, the evergreen pines slowly getting drowned in white.

Then Tino turned a corner and Lukas rushed a bit to see where he turned next. But when he rounded the corner, he couldn't see the blonde Finn on the almost active street any more. A glimpse of movement off the road caught his eye, and he noticed a small path going to the woods on the other side of the road, a bit further away on his right. When he reached the path he didn't see Tino anywhere, but there were one set of footprints in the otherwise untouched snow. Lukas was around 87 percent sure Tino had turned there, so trusting his instinct he turned on the path and followed the footprints.

Lukas knew that the forests here on the outskirts could be deep, and as he had never been in this one, he had no idea where Tino was heading nor how long he would have to follow his trail. The forest wasn't that dense, but it didn't take long for the noise of the city to fade out and wrap the environment in eerie silence. Lukas thought he was breathing too loud and everyone would hear his steps as he followed the light footprints that were still visible despite the constant snowfall. Normally forests weren't that quiet, but Lukas guessed the falling snow had driven the creatures that remained for the winter into hiding. He pulled his hood lower and adjusted his cloak.

He was just walking in a normal looking part of the forest when suddenly he felt _something_. It was a strange feeling and hard to describe, kind of like a soft call coming deeper from the forest. Lukas would've described it as a song or a hum, except that he couldn't really hear anything. It was unmistakably something magical. Shivers ran through his back and he wasn't sure if it was the pleasant way or the bad way. However, it was coming off-path somewhere deep, and the footprints he was following were going in different direction following the path. He wavered for a moment, but decided that he could come back after he had learned something more about Tino. Lukas thought only briefly that it was weird of him to abandon something magical in favor of a person, but he knew this could be one of his only chances to know. Besides, what on earth was Tino doing in a magical forest anyway? He could discover the magical part later, but right now he rushed forward to follow the prints.

Lukas hadn't been walking that long, probably around 15 minutes, but it felt like forever. Then he stopped and stared at the ground, puzzled: the footprints stopped. No one was standing at the end of the trail that seemed to just stop, mid-stride judging by the prints. Lukas knew no one could just vanish into thin air, but the prints suggested so. Could it have something to do with the magic he felt in the forest? He wasn't feeling it anymore, but there was a real chance that it had something to do with the situation, the most likely scenario being that the magic had swiped the trail. The real question was how on earth he would find Tino now. Should he try some magic, too? He had no idea how it worked, though, and had never tried. Maybe he should just give up and go discover the magic. Maybe this was a way for the magic to tell him to discover instead of following the trail. Lukas admitted to himself that it was a far-fetched thought, but he couldn't know if magic had its own will or not, so he wouldn't count it out.

However, when Lukas was still trying to decide what to do now, something hit his back hard and he fell, having barely any time to break the fall with his hands and not with his nose. He tried to rise immediately, but that something, or someone as Lukas deducted, had gone down with him and kept him pressed to the ground. Then something cool and definitely sharp was pressed against the side of his neck. The cold touch sent another set of shivers through Lukas, but this time it was certainly the bad type. Okay, things were getting dangerous.

"Don't move", said a calm voice that to his surprise he recognized, but had never heard so cold, and that definitely was much scarier than the weapon.

"Tino?" he asked unsurely. _What was going on?_

The blade from his neck disappeared immediately and the weight holding him down shifted away. Lukas rolled over and saw Tino staring at him, and there was something very dangerous in his posture. He had a knife in his hand, the kind he remembered Finns often carrying.

"Lukas?" Tino asked voice full of disbelief. His eyes looked at Lukas confused and his posture stayed stiff, but the dangerous quality of it vanished. A moment later the confusion in his eyes changed to a sharp look, and Lukas knew he had figured out what Lukas was doing there. Lukas stood and brushed all the snow he could out of his cloak; it was slightly wet now, but not too badly. When he straightened again he saw Tino still staring at him, this time with an unreadable neutral look.

"You were following me."

It wasn't a question. Lukas knew it was no use to lie now, so he nodded and kept the eye contact. He expected anger from Tino, but there none to see, just the same stiffness and unreadable expression. The closest guess Lukas could make was that Tino was worried.

"Why?" Tino asked, still very neutral.

There was really no reason to lie even if he could think of a convincing reason that quickly. Lukas wondered how he had not thought of an excuse in case he got caught.

"I wanted to know where you were going", he responded with a shrug. To his surprise Tino relaxed and laughed, and not a small chuckle but a real laugh that sounded strangely relieved.

After Tino had calmed down, he finally put his knife away and said:

"You know, you could have asked; it's not a secret. I volunteer at an animal shelter on Saturdays."

Oh, now Lukas felt a bit ashamed. On the other hand he had known all along that he should've just asked.

"I didn't know if you'd give me a full answer. I thought I could get more information like this", Lukas said bluntly. Still Tino seemed more amused and relieved than angry, which confused Lukas just as much as the attack.

"Yeah, but it's not a good idea to try that. You're lucky I wanted to check your reasons to be here and not just kill you straight away; I didn't recognize you with the cloak", Tino said lightheartedly. Lukas was unsure if Tino was teasing him in turn or being serious. It felt strangely worrying.

"Why did you jump on me, anyway? And where were you as the track ends here?" Lukas asked in turn. He thought it was a bit extreme reaction to someone following him, as the disappearing tracks would've probably turned almost anyone away.

"I was expecting it to be someone more dangerous; can't be too careful. And I was hiding behind a bush a while back, I knew someone was following me – you should be more careful with that – so I trailed my own footprints backwards and jumped behind it. I didn't have too much time to do it properly, so the fact that you didn't notice it told me that you aren't very used in tracking people", Tino responded.

Lukas admitted that it was a lot more believable reason than magic swiping the trail clean. However, Tino's answer had been very vague, but Lukas wasn't stupid. He knew of the scars, and that combined to Tino's reaction and explanation made Lukas believe that he wasn't expecting just anyone dangerous, but very specific someone. He decided to be straight forward, and asked:

"Does that someone dangerous have something to do with those scars on your back?"

Tino looked at Lukas sharply; it was the first time the scars were mentioned. The obvious signs about their secrets had become somewhat of a taboo between them, and now Lukas had boldly asked about it. Tino sighed before answering:

"You know I can't talk about that any more than you can about your moments."

"Can't or won't?" Lukas challenged. He needed to know. Tino looked at him sadly.

"Mostly can't and others won't. The won't would cause too many questions from the can't, so I'd say I can't those either. Let's just say that I'm quite paranoid about certain things", he responded.

Lukas sighed and decided that a change in topic would be in place.

"If you're volunteering at a shelter, why are we in the middle of a forest?" he asked.

"The shelter needs a lot of space, they have big kennels and they even harbor a few horses that need a lot of room, so it's placed away from the city. This path is a shortcut, but I usually take the bus as it takes around 40 minutes to get there through here. I only turned here because I noticed _someone_ following me" Tino responded. Before Lukas could respond, he continued:

"We've come over halfway, so if you want to, you can come with me. They always need some help there."

Lukas considered the offer. He didn't have anywhere else he needed to be and he actually liked animals. He just never had thought of owing one, but he usually went well with them. On the other hand he could decline and go to investigate the magical feel of the forest he had felt. What if it would disappear and he'd be too late? Then he made the mistake of looking at Tino, who was looking at him with a hopeful expression complete with the big eyes and the almost-smile that would complete when a positive answer was given. Dear gods, how the hell did that affect him so? Yeah, he was really growing soft; he could always say no to Mathias and almost always to Emil, but he couldn't manage that look from Tino. He had already lost the battle, so he gave in:

"Okay, I think I have time to spare. I like animals."

Tino smiled so cheerily that Lukas didn't even feel slightly bad about his not-really-decision. He would just figure out later what the magical thing was, and what the hell was wrong with him. It was like Tino could bring out his mushy side, which he didn't want to happen and which definitely should not happen. He had even smiled way too easily today hadn't he? And admired Tino and his smile more than he should. Well, he would just have to think about it later as for now he fell in step with Tino to continue their now shared journey through the forest in silence.

The shelter was clean building with a lot of light shining inside. However, all cages made the place less cozy than it could've been. Some of the dogs were running outside in fenced areas, but the cats and small animals were inside, as were some dogs as well. The stables were standing a bit further away, and there were three horses in paddocks. There was also a building that was most likely a farm house, probably harboring goats, pigs, chicken and maybe cows. Lukas could see this all from the windows inside the reception hall. He was standing there, unsure what to do as Tino talked with the receptionist about the volunteering.

Eventually Tino made the arrangements and led Lukas deeper into the building. There were fewer windows and more cages there. Tino showed him where the food was and gave instructions for the feeding. Lukas got to the job, and with Tino they prepared the foods quickly enough. Before giving the food they went to fetch the dogs inside. After giving the animals space to eat, Tino started to introduce the animals to Lukas. Most of them seemed to love Tino, coming to him and greeting him depending from the animal. When they arrived to the cage of a small, white dog, Tino smiled and opened the cage to hold the white ball of fluff.

"This is Hanatamago. Isn't she sweet?" Tino asked, holding the fluff ball close to Lukas.

Lukas stared at the dog. Then he stared at Tino. He had hard time deciding which one was cuter, and even harder time not to melt to cuddle the small dog.

"She's cute", he replied, not really sure what he should do.

"Yeah, she is. She's such a nice dog, too. I'm fond of her, and it'll be a sad day when someone adopts here", Tino said with a sigh, hugging the dog protectively. Lukas had thought the pair couldn't get much cuter, but he was proven wrong as Hanawhateverthenamewas licked Tino's nose, making him smile.

"Why don't you adopt her yourself? I'm sure she'd be happy with you", Lukas suggested.

"I would've already, but I can't. I don't exactly live alone, you know", Tino replied and sighed again. He really seemed a little down about the fact.

"They don't want a dog?" Lukas asked. He hadn't thought of Tino's parents not wanting a dog. Lukas had never thought to get a pet, but he was quite sure that his parents would be okay with it if he asked.

"It's against the rules", Tino said sadly. Lukas raised an eyebrow; what rules? Tino seemed to realize what he'd said and seemed to ponder for a moment before answering:

"I live in a foster home. Pets are not allowed."

Oh. On the other hand that would explain certain things. Lukas wanted to ask what happened to his family or if his family was responsible of those scars, but he knew that Tino wouldn't answer. It seemed like he was truly getting soft; he was rarely this nice to people.

"Well, if someone wants to adopt her, I can ask my parents if she could stay with us. You can still be with her and take care of her like that", Lukas suggested. He tried to make it sound casual, but the fluffy dog was way too cute and coming here was certainly a bad idea as now he wanted to take and cuddle all the cute things. He didn't just offer for Tino, he was truly interested what having a pet would be like. And if Tino was there to share the responsibility… Whoa, whoa, what _was_ he thinking? It wasn't like they were a couple.

But the blinding, honest smile spreading on Tino's face made Lukas forget about those thoughts. Somehow he felt that he made the right offer, even if the reality would need a bit more thinking over. Lukas wanted to be responsible, so he added:

"Only if we can get it to work, though. I don't want an animal to suffer because of hasty decisions." Tino just nodded, apparently too happy to say anything else.

They played with and petted Hana – Lukas had decided to call her just that – and other animals for a while more, before Tino took them back to their cages with a "Sorry guys, see you later!"

"The stables are still part of my responsibility. Want to come with me?" he asked. Horses were a pretty new dimension for Lukas, so naturally he shrugged and followed Tino back to the coldness outside.

The first thing he noticed when entering the stable was the warmth of indoors, the next was the smell. It was hay and leather and many other smells he couldn't name. It was clean, but still somewhat dusty, but he figured pretty much all stables were a bit dusty. First thing to do was to muck the stables. Tino had clearly done it for a while and had finished two when Lukas was still doing his first. He was surprised that it wasn't really unpleasant work as the stable was such a calm environment. There were only three occupied places from four, so after he had finished with his cleaning, they were ready in that section. Then Tino gave him a lead rope.

"We'll fetch the buggers inside. You can take the big black one and I'll the other two. He's very kind and old, so don't worry", Tino told him. Still Lukas was a bit nervous as they went back outside. He had never been close to horses and they were big animals.

Tino told Lukas how to lead a horse and kept an eye on him when he went to the paddock where the horse he was supposed to fetch was. Tino hadn't been exaggerating when saying it was big; it was a huge, heavy horse with shiny black coat and white markings. Even Lukas could see that it was a workhorse, full on heavy muscle to pull loads. Or to trample him at will. However, the beast seemed to be almost asleep, not even flopping an ear when Lukas came close and snapped the rope to its place like Tino had taught him to. Tino held the gate open for him and the giant followed him lazily. Lukas wasn't still convinced, though, but he petted the horse's neck for a peace offering while they stood on the yard waiting for Tino. The horse didn't say anything, so Lukas took it as acceptance.

Soon Tino had gotten himself two horses, one on each side of his, and led the way back to the stable. One of the horses was finer breed and seemed skittish, but the other was a smaller and heavier horse with a peaceful look. The skittish one looked beautiful, and even the one he was handling had strong kind of beauty, but the third horse hadn't really any of that. It wasn't ugly or anything, and could be considered even cute, but it didn't have the same power or elegance as the two others. Once the horses were in the stables Tino explained:

"The old one was abandoned because of his age. He's a nice one, but can' really do much anymore. We hope he'd get into a nice family for the rest of his life. That white jumpy one was too hard for her owner and pretty much got abused because of that. She'll need a home willing to train her, we have started here, but it's slow. And that third one was left locked in a barn when the owners moved away. She was in a pretty bad shape, but now she's pretty good and has a good nature. Sadly she's not that beautiful or talented, so it's very likely no one will want her. Then again no one really wants these horses. I've called that third one Lempi as she looks like a Finnhorse. She may be one, or at least a cross. It's rare to see them anywhere outside Finland, so she reminds me of home."

Lukas nodded; he could understand that.

"That skittish one, she's called Lady. She doesn't let people to touch her legs, so shoeing her was hard. I used to live on a farm where we shoed ourselves the two horses we had, so I made a deal that I could ride Lempi in exchange of shoeing and caring for the horses. Lady was okay after she learned to trust me", Tino told him, his gaze somewhere far away. Lukas was unsure if Tino knew what he was saying as he didn't usually let out so much information about himself.

"But, let's get to business. I'll just fetch my boots and then I'll teach you to ride!"

As it came to be, Lukas left the shelter late and smelling of horse, but the smell was strangely comforting. He also kind of promised to come there again. He was tired and he felt that he would be very stiff the next day, but the magic of the forest wouldn't leave his mind. It was already dark, but the snow did reflect light a little and once he got used to it, it wouldn't seem so anymore. He also had his phone in case of emergency, so after saying goodbye to Tino, who was still feeding the horses, he sneaked to the woods instead of the bus stop nearby. He straightened his cloak and convinced himself that there was nothing to be afraid of in the snow-covered forest and that he could find his way home. The magic was too interesting for him to believe otherwise.

Somewhere deep he knew, however, that this wasn't a wise decision. Then again, he was known for truths, not for wisdom.

* * *

 **Well, something definitely happened. Something different for a change.**

 **Sorry for the wait again, we had Midsummer celebrations and they're quite big thing here. I also started working 8 hours a day, so not that much time to write anymore... I'm trying to update at least once a week, though, so don't worry. Things are starting to roll. Feedback is always appreciated.**

 **I have a headcanon that Finland is quite the horseman. Not the type to race or show horses in a ring, but the kind that can make a nervous horse calm down, young horses stand still, and generally just being able to handle them well. Might be just me, though.**


	7. Chapter: A Magic Gathering

Lukas didn't know when the snowfall had stopped, but their previous prints were just shallow dips in the new white coat the ground and forest had been covered in. He didn't think it could be so creepy.

He wasn't afraid of the dark, and he wasn't afraid of forests. But for some reason a dark forest creeped the life out of him. Maybe it was the silence in which the crunching of the snow under his feet sounded like thunder and his breath felt and sounded so that it was easy to imagine that he was a dragon huffing smoke on the verge of breathing out fire. Well, he certainly felt as noisy and clumsy as a dragon. The sky was lit with the stars and the crescent moon, but it didn't really help as it wrapped everything in dark-bluish glow that made the shadows look like they were alive and he thought he saw movement in them from the corner of his eye.

He was torn between walking fast and walking carefully, opting for something in between. He trusted he'd feel the magic again if it still was there. The length of the journey felt much longer this way around, but Lukas reasoned that it was because he was anxious to get to his destination when last time he was following someone without trying to get anywhere. The path was clearly the right one, as he could see the small dips where they had left prints when coming the other way. He could never understand nor forgive his mind the games it played.

After a certain amount of time that Lukas was unsure of as the journey had felt timeless, the feeling of magic returned. It wasn't strong yet, so he followed the path a little more as the feeling grew a bit stronger and he stopped when it started to get weaker again. From that position he looked at the slightly illuminated yet still dark forest where the feeling was coming from. He decided it was a feeling, like a vibration, more than a hum or an actual sound. Lukas bit his lip, pondering how he'd find the path again before remembering that he'd leave footprints in the snow. He'd just have to check every once in a while that the magic really didn't swipe trails clean or he'd be in trouble.

Lukas took a breath before he stepped off the road. Shivers ran across his back again and he could feel the small hairs on his skin standing up. It wasn't unpleasant; actually, it was quite thrilling. Feeling more confident and exited than before, he took a step closer, then another. Soon he couldn't see the road any more, but was surrounded by the spruce trees that tried their best to grow wide and thick, which made his journey a little more challenging. He pushed through the branches as gently as he could in his state of excitement and he was careful not to rush in case he would scare something away. It was a lot like fast sneaking, he mused.

The feeling got stronger, so Lukas was positive that he was going in the right direction. He thought it somewhat weird that he hadn't had a run-in with a magical creature yet – they should be drawn to the magical source, too. Or at least that's what he thought would happen, but it was nothing more than an assumption as he had never encountered anything like this and he wasn't exactly aware of those creatures magic-sense.

He pushed some branches aside and felt like he was a tuning fork that was hit. That's how strongly he felt the vibration and his ear rang with a clear sound. Luckily it faded after a moment, which made him feel like a tuning fork just that much more, and once his vibrating vision cleared he could see a rock. It wasn't a big rock, just about the size and high that it would be comfortable to sit on. There seemed to be nothing special about this rock, but Lukas was way too suspicious to be fooled. He stopped for a moment to think, but there was nothing else of any interest in sight.

So of course he did the thing that any curious person would have done: he touched the stone.

Nothing happened.

"Well, that was anticlimactic", Lukas muttered to himself and took advantage of the stone's practical size by sitting on it.

"That's because you're not of the fair folk, you idiot."

Lukas nearly fell off the stone. He whisked his head towards the voice that had spoken straight to his ear. No one was there.

"Where are you?" Lukas asked confused. Something was definitely going on, and he didn't like not knowing what.

"Oh, yeah; we dusted the place. Wait a moment", the voice answered, and seemed to come literally straight from under his nose. Then there was a puffing noise, and all he knew was that his eyes stung. He stayed still, though, as he wouldn't give the creature the pleasure of seeing his discomfort. If it was a fairy, he (the speaker was definitely a male) certainly would enjoy it.

Once the stinging faded and Lukas was able to open his eyes and almost jumped up, but managed to remain seated. The whole area around him was glowing in eerie blue and everywhere there were fairies of various sizes and colors. Lukas had walked in the middle of it and not even noticed.

"Uh, I didn't step on any of you, did I?" he asked worriedly. His words were met with tinkering laughter that was beautiful, but had a dangerous edge to it. It sounded like someone was willing to take it as a joke, but warning him of making any more. Lukas turned to face the laugher.

She was the size of his palm and was wearing a blue dress of flowers. Her wings reminded him of morning dew. She was wearing a flower crown and seemed to have some sort of guards or servants behind her. She was obviously the Queen, and though Lukas had never before met royalty he had the tact to stand up and bow slightly for the Queen of the Fairies.

"I am terribly sorry for stumbling here like this, my Lady. Your gathering is sending very strong vibrations and I felt the need to investigate", Lukas said and tried to sound noble and polite enough. He had no idea what he should call the Queen of Fairies, so he went with "my Lady".

To say Lukas was dazed was an understatement; not only he was having an actual conversation with fairies, but he met the Queen of Fairies herself. He had seen fairies many times, but never talked with them. Actually, to his embarrassment he had to admit that he thought they communicated by the tinkering sound and couldn't speak human language. Behind his daze he also had a few warning bells ringing: what he knew of fairies of folktales was that they could be mischievous, sometimes malicious, were very literal and that one did not want to anger them. Lukas really hoped he hadn't waltzed straight to the bad side of the fairies.

The Queen of Fairies looked at him for a long moment, tilting her head from one side to another. Then she spoke:

"As you sense our magic, you are welcome to our dance, human."

"Thank you, my Lady", Lukas responded. He was a bit unsure why she called it a dance as it didn't look like one: they were all tingling around each other, seemingly socializing quite excitedly. That was what he thought before few of them started to fight. And it wasn't the Disney-type hair pulling fight, but one with scary snarls, sharp teeth and claws and dark purple blood.

Lukas sat slowly back down to watch it all happen. He wasn't stupid enough to introduce himself as there was no knowledge of what the fairies could do with that information. He had read way too many stories of them stealing souls. No introductions and definitely no touching at anything offered.

"So, what does a young mage do this near our border?"

Lukas turned his head again and this time he saw the speaker, a small yellow-skinned fairy with golden wings and worryingly long and sharp claws. He tried not to be too glad about the fact that the fairy had called him a mage.

"I felt the vibrations and came to investigate. But I'm not sure if you could call me a mage, though. I've never done any magic", Lukas told the fairy. Something dangerous flashed on the fairy's face. Lukas was very worried for a moment, but then the fairy spoke:

"You opt not to use such a gift? You can even feel magic, which is not common even amongst the magic users, but you are not even trying? Humans have grown to be even weaker of will than I remembered them being."

Lukas needed a moment for the words to sink in. He didn't know if he should feel honored or offended.

"Wait, you are telling me that I can use magic?" he asked, and though he didn't let it show outward he was feeling extremely excited.

"Don't tell me you didn't know that. You humans have sunken even lower than I thought if you can't even educate your own on the matter", the fairy said sounding almost desperate because of Lukas' stupidity.

"Well, humans don't believe in magic and anything related to it anymore. So I never got to know it", Lukas told the yellow overgrown fly. Yes, he was somewhat offended, but didn't let that show again.

"You are all idiots. But we could make a deal about learning magic", the fairy suggested.

Lukas was so exhilarated about the thought of learning magic that he almost said yes without thinking. But for his luck, the warning bells rang louder and he remembered the fairies being very literal. If he said yes now, the fairy could pretty much demand any deal he wanted. He also noticed that the fairy didn't ask him if he wanted it. The sly fly probably knew very well that he did want it. Also he was having a toothy grin on his pretty little face, so Lukas couldn't deem him exactly trustworthy.

"What kind of deal?" he asked cautiously. He'd have to be very careful. At any other offer he'd say no immediately, but this one was too tempting. Maybe that was why this was so dangerous, as the fairies knew very well with what to tempt one with.

"A favor for a favor; I'd teach you magic and you'd ran a few errands I as a fairy can't", the fairy said. Lukas knew he spoke the truth as the fairies always did, but the real interest here was what was left unsaid and what loopholes there were. Lukas saw way too many ways this one could go wrong for him, so he for once did the wise thing:

"Thank you for the offer, but I'm not taking it."

Lukas made sure to keep his voice polite and light, but say it straight enough that there was no possibility of questioning or twisting his answer. The yellow claw-insect looked disappointed, but to Lukas' relief not offended, and flew away without another word. Lukas got the feel that it hadn't wanted anything else but a deal out of him.

He suddenly felt uncomfortable in the middle of everything and decided to get up and slowly move to the edge of the 'dance', even if it looked more like a gathering. He could breathe a little easier when he felt that he had an escape route.

Then he saw a figure in the midst of the trees and almost had a heart attack before he recognized that it was Tino sitting on the ground and watching him. And when he realized it was Tino watching him he almost had a heart attack again.

" _What are you doing here?_ " Lukas hissed in panic. How much had Tino seen? Why was he here? Dear gods, he was going to tell everyone, wasn't he, and then it would be a mental institute for Lukas.

"You really didn't expect me to follow you? Because sneaking late into a dark forest isn't suspicious at all; I got curious. I must admit that this does explain things", Tino said with a small amount of laughter in his voice.

Lukas growled: this wasn't funny at all. He turned his back on Tino and thought how he would deal with the problem at hand. His mind was still whirling about being discovered, and he felt like he was choking. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to force the tears to stay in his eyes. Then a hand landed on his shoulder and he just didn't know what he should do anymore.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm not laughing at you. Believe me, I've seen and heard a lot more absurd things. I believe you really see them", Tino said with a soothing voice. The soft tone calmed Lukas down the needed amount for the words to register in his mind. They caused him to stiffen. Tino was trailing round, comforting patterns with his palm on Lukas' back.

"Really", Lukas said without turning, "You don't think I'm insane, like I'd believe that. You just want me to calm down."

"When have I lied to you? And yes, I do wish you to calm down. But I do believe you; I've seen insane, and you don't fill that criteria", Tino said softly. Lukas could hear from his voice that he was smiling.

Tino was right, though. Lukas didn't know a single time when he had lied. He didn't always tell everything and he refused to answer some questions, but he never lied as far as Lukas could tell. It would also be beneficial to them both if Lukas did calm down. He took a deep breath, relaxed his shoulders and turned around slowly. Tino's comforting hand fell away.

"What's your criteria for insane, then?" Lukas asked. Tino smiled happily, and something funny happened to Lukas' insides. That was the moment he truly believed that Tino didn't see him as insane, even when he hadn't received his answer yet.

"Hearing voices and seeing things are actually not even on the list. Insane is someone who's lost their sanity, and you are very much sane. I… I've seen people lose their sanity. It's not a pretty sight. I know for certain that you just have a gift", Tino told him. Lukas sighed again and the relief washed over him. It was going to be okay; Tino believed him.

"But now, I understand very well why you keep it hidden. Have you told anyone?" Tino asked sounding gentle, but there was seriousness in his voice instead of the usual lightness.

"I only told Emil and that was a long time ago. I don't know if he believes or even remembers it", Lukas answered. They were close enough that he could take one step forward and they'd basically me embracing. Even with all the fairies somewhere behind his back, it felt like they were alone at that moment.

"Good. Let's keep it that way", Tino said with a smile, sounding like he usually did. Lukas just nodded numbly as neither of them stepped away and they were looking at each other. Lukas wasn't still sure what had just happened, but he did feel drained and a hug would be pretty nice. He had just decided to do it, when a sudden change in the energy pulsing from behind him occurred.

Lukas spun around, and he finally understood why it was called a dance: the fairies had begun to dance. It was seemingly unorganized, but everyone moved more gracefully than he'd ever seen anyone or anything move. Each of them danced their own little dance, weaving amongst each other and never colliding with anyone. It was magical, and hypnotic. It called for him to join them. He shook the weird thought out of his head, but he couldn't turn his head away. The longer he looked, the more he saw the small patterns and the more he wanted to dance there, too. He took a step closer, away from the trees.

He heard Tino saying something, but it was like he had been talking on top of the surface white Lukas was underwater. He felt Tino grab his arm, and he tried to shake him off. Why was Tino doing that? He just wanted to dance with the fairies. He could feel the magic leek from their dance, yearned to join it. He wanted to get intoxicated with all that magic, wanted to –

Everything went black.

* * *

 **Stuff goes down. And a cliffhanger happens.**

 **I actually managed to update within a week, yay for that. It's been really busy here.**

 **Hope you like it. Feedback is always appreciated.**


	8. Chapter: Clueless

When Lukas woke up it was still dark. For a moment he just blinked at the familiar ceiling before shifting around a little. Yes, he was definitely in his own bed. He couldn't see much in the dark, but the silhouettes around him were familiar and he could distinguish the feel of his own bed.

He didn't remember getting home. He remembered going to the animal shelter with Tino. He remembered the magic of the forest he'd been so drawn to. He remembered going to investigate even if it was late, and meeting the fairies. Then Tino had appeared. He'd said he believed Lukas, hadn't he? His memory was a bit hazy on that one. Then something had happened and he remembered nothing more. How had he gotten into his own bed?

Lukas would agonize over the fact that Tino had found out his secret later. Right now the important matter was to figure out what the hell had happened to him. He tried sitting up, but that was a big mistake; his head hurt horribly, and he groaned while dropping back to lie on the pillow. He tried to throw his left arm over his eyes, but something yanked it back in midair. Lukas frowned and tugged whatever was restraining his arm, but it would not give in. He felt around a bit and discovered that someone had tied him to the bedpost from his wrist. He could turn and lie comfortably and even sit up, but not get out of bed. Not that he could anyway with his headache.

His moving around stirred a figure lying on his floor. Lukas stiffened, but was not incredibly surprised when the silhouette spoke with Tino's voice:

"Oh, you woke. I got you some painkillers and water, if you want." Lukas squinted at his tentative tone. What had happened?

"Why did you tie me in bed?" Lukas asked, and wanted to facepalm at how wrong that sounded. Then he briefly thought that actually he wouldn't mind too much if Tino did that. Only his headache stopped him from hitting his head on the wall at the thought.

"Because I want to have my way with you", Tino said and it sounded like he was smirking. Lukas made a chocking sound and Tino laughed quietly at that.

"What, you tease others all the time. Do expect some of the courtesy returned. Besides, you kind of gave me the opening on that one", Tino said with a chuckle. Lukas admitted to himself that Tino was right on that one, he had thought it too. He was a little surprised that Tino went for it as he had always thought that Tino was the bashful type.

"But seriously, though, you scared me. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but basically something changed as even I could feel something in the air, and you turned around to look back at the fairies. Then you wouldn't look away and wouldn't respond to me and then you started to walk towards them. When I took hold of your arm you tried your best to shake me off and tried to get forward all the time. I remembered all the tales you told me about the soul stealing and such, so I tried my best to stop you. I, uh, had to knock you out so you'd stop struggling. I carried you a while away as I didn't knock you out for long, and I thought it would bring you back to your senses. But when you woke up you still tried to get there even when we were almost back in the city, and I must say that you are stronger than you look as I had trouble to hold you down. I had to knock you out for good, and then brought you here. I tied you to the bed just in case you weren't still in your right mind when you woke up", Tino explained.

Lukas groaned and threw his right arm over his face instead. He didn't remember much after his discussion with Tino in the forest, but he did have a faint memory of fairies dancing. No wonder he had been so out of it; fairies have magical dances that lure in people so they could steal their soul in many tales. Lukas wasn't sure how much of it was true, but he was rather grateful that he didn't have to find out. At least the magical dance that lured in was true, but then why hadn't Tino been affected? Was it because he didn't see the fairies dance? He said he felt the magic, though, so he should be somewhat affected. However, his head hurt too much for this now.

"I think you caused me some brain damage", Lukas complained, still not moving his arm from his face.

"Doubt it as I didn't hit your head. There are better ways to knock someone out. But would you like the painkillers now?" Tino asked with a slightly worried tone. Lukas wondered how he had knocked him out, then. At least nothing else but his head hurt, so that was good. He nodded to Tino's offer before he remembered that such a small gesture would probably go unnoticed in the dark, so he voiced it aloud instead:

"Yes, please. And can you untie this thing? I can assure you I'm not going anywhere."

Tino chuckled and his silhouette shuffled closer. Lukas was quite sure he was amused about the fact that Lukas couldn't untie himself – he had felt the knots and they were tight and foreign. Apparently Tino was an expert in tying people. He was also an expert in untying, as it took only a few seconds for him to free Lukas. After he swallowed some water with the painkillers, which was a painful process as he had to sit up, he lied back down and said:

"I don't even want to know why you are so good at tying people to their beds."

"Oh, I've had practice", Tino said with a snicker. Lukas rolled his eyes, but winched as it hurt his head. At least it was dark; he was sure light would kill his head. At least there wouldn't be school tomorrow… wait, what day it was?

"How long was I out?" Lukas asked, a bit afraid of the answer.

"Just a few hours, it's only a bit past midnight", Tino responded. Lukas felt relieved. That was until he remembered something else:

"And how exactly my parents responded to you bringing me home unconscious?" He felt Tino fidget around a bit.

"Well, I didn't want to alarm anyone so I, uh, took you to your room through your window. I went to knock on your door and said I forgot something in your room so your mom let me in to fetch it. That was how I got the window open. Then I told them that you were already home sleeping as you weren't feeling too well and wished to be left alone, which they did wonder about but accepted. It was kind of true as you were almost home and certainly not well. Then I left and dragged you through the window and stayed here to watch that you were okay", Tino replied a bit sheepish.

Lukas laughed quietly as he didn't want to wake up the entire house. He had to admit, that was quite clever, but it was also kind of hilarious, especially when Tino was so sheepish about it. He was also glad that Tino had not only kept his secret but also managed to hide the incident from everyone and not caused any panicked parents. If Tino would have taken him elsewhere, his parents would have gone mad when he hadn't come home or informed them he was staying the night somewhere else.

"I am thankful of that, but how on earth did you get me up through a window on the second floor? And with no one noticing", Lukas said. He was slowly starting to feel a bit better as the pills took effect.

"Ah, it wasn't that big of a deal. And I think your brother might suspects something", Tino replied. Lukas thought Tino was downplaying his achievements, but the Finn was very humble and Lukas had gotten used to that. If Tino said that it wasn't that big of a deal, then it probably was quite hard to do. His brother might be a problem, though. Maybe he could bribe Emil to silence if his brother happened to notice something was off.

"You should rest. I think that magic took a lot out of you. Honestly, I suspect the headache is because of it as I didn't harm you when knocking you out. You might have a few bruises because of the struggling, though", Tino said.

"How come it didn't affect you?" Lukas asked, although he agreed with Tino. He was tired and now that his headache was dulled, he felt sleepy.

"I don't know; I'm not an expert in magic. But I did feel it too and I think it affected you more because you are in general much more sensitive to magic due to your gift. Plus I actually happened to have some iron with me", Tino suggested with a small smile.

"You sure do seem to know more than you say you know", Lukas commented.

"No, I don't really know much. I apply logic, because even magic is logical in its own way. But I guess you are kind of right as this wasn't the first time I've come to contact with magic. Still, I don't know anything more about it, I'm just guessing. And you were the one to tell me about how fairies fear iron", Tino explained while shifting uncomfortably. Lukas raised an eyebrow, but sadly in the darkness the effort was wasted.

"So you believed in magic even before?" Lukas asked. He was surprised about that to be honest. Tino was so down to earth and good in stuff like math and such that it was hard to imagine him believing in magic.

"Well, yes. And if my opinion matters, I think you should start to train how to use it. But keep it secret", Tino said in turn. Lukas huffed a bit.

"What do you think I've been doing all these years? I managed to keep it from you rather long too", Lukas said and crossed his arms.

"Yeah, you did. You aren't quite as skilled in tracking, though", Tino replied with a chuckle.

Lukas rolled his eyes at that, and then they both fell silent. Neither of them had anything more to say at that moment, though Lukas knew they weren't done yet. But right now wasn't the right time so those things were left unsaid for the time being. For the moment they could enjoy their comfortable silent moment. The comfortableness was disturbed when Tino shifted a little.

"Uh, I should probably go… you need to rest. Besides, your folks don't know I'm here so it would be really weird to have a run-in with them in the morning", Tino said far more quietly than he had been talking and even then he hadn't been talking loud – they didn't want to wake up anyone.

For some reason Lukas didn't really like the idea of Tino leaving. The recent events had been mentally exhausting and for the first time in his life Lukas felt like he wanted someone to just hug him and reassure him that it was all going to be ok, that he wasn't mentally disturbed even when knowing the whole truth. Yeah, Tino's company clearly wasn't good for him if he was turning this sappy. However, when Tino shifted towards the window Lukas spoke despite himself:

"You could stay. You can leave in the morning. If no one saw you coming up while dragging me, you can certainly sneak out unnoticed. People don't usually barge in through my door in the mornings because I haven't had my coffee yet so doing that would be a suicide."

Tino stopped and faced Lukas as much as one can face anyone in the dark. Lukas wouldn't say any more, as he didn't want to let out that he didn't want Tino to leave. Instead he tried to give semi-logical reasons, and at least convince him that he didn't have to leave. He was readying himself to answer Tino's protests, but none came. Instead of saying anything Tino sighed, but apparently he didn't really want to go as he took a step back and sat down so that he disappeared from Lukas' vision. There was a moment of silence during which Lukas processed what just happened and turned on his side to peer over the edge of the bed at Tino who had curled up on the floor.

"You know, the floor isn't the best place to sleep on", Lukas commented. He grimaced at the thought of his muscles complaining after sleeping on the hard surface.

"I've slept in worse places", Tino said with a chuckle. Considering what Tino had told of his past, Lukas could believe that. Who knew where the cute-faced and innocent looking boy had been.

"Yeah, but now you don't have to. Come on, my bed is big enough for two. Or at least take the armchair", Lukas said. He shuffled over to the other side to emphasize his point. Tino was probably small enough to curl in is armchair if he didn't want to share a bed. But right now Lukas wanted him closer than the other side of the room, and considering the Finnish sauna culture he didn't think Tino would object to sharing a bed. People in the Nordic countries weren't so touchy-feely about stuff like that.

"If you insist", Tino answered and stood. He took off his hoodie and his socks and lay down on the other side of the bed, on the covers and all. Lukas rolled his eyes.

"Under the covers, I'm not letting you go cold", Lukas demanded. Really, would he do nothing for himself unless commanded? Tino huffed, but complied.

"I don't get cold so easily, but you offered so nicely", Tino said in a teasing tone. Wait, what? That was when Lukas realized how his words could be taken and he groaned.

"You're evil. You knocked me out, I can say stupid stuff as long as my head hurts without being made fun of", Lukas complained. A very quiet chuckle could be heard from the other side of the bed.

"Sorry", Tino apologized, his voice soft with smile. Lukas wanted to groan again, but he didn't. How could he think of Tino as evil now? Okay, he never could anyway, but he would never say that out loud. He was turning scarily soft towards the adorable Finn.

Lukas couldn't help but wonder what would happen now between them. Tino knew about him, but he didn't know about Tino, and he would be a fool if he didn't recognize that it would affect their relationship. And no, he didn't mean that kind of relationship; friendships and such were relationships too.

"Now that you know about mine, would you tell me about yours?" Lukas wondered out loud. The question wasn't really aimed at anyone, nor did he expect any answers. He was just pondering out loud. Somehow Tino knew this and he said just as rhetorically:

"It doesn't seem to be very fair, does it?"

There was a moment of silence again, before Tino sighed.

"Maybe there's something I can tell, but there's just so much I can't. Even if you promised not to tell anyone, I can't take the risk."

"Why not?" Lukas asked. His tone wasn't prying, just curious and hopefully gave Tino the feeling that he didn't have to answer if he didn't want to.

"Because it's not just me I'd put in danger by doing that", Tino answered.

Lukas didn't even try to check if he was telling the truth; they were way past that point and he trusted him. He had for a while, he realized.

"Then I won't pry", Lukas said. Not that he didn't want to know and wouldn't take every opportunity to learn, but he knew he wouldn't get answers by asking. They were secrets for a reason.

"Thanks. But you'll still watch me and try to figure it out and don't try to claim otherwise. Don't worry, though, I still like you", Tino said in a playful tone.

"I've been way too nice to you", Lukas stated. It was true, but he couldn't help it. Tino laughed quietly and said:

"Yeah, you have. But we need to sleep, you know. Good night, Lukas."

Lukas got a fuzzy feeling when Tino said his name. He ignored it and blamed the tiredness and the dulled headache.

"Good night, Tino", he replied before shutting his eyes and shifting to a more comfortable position. He hoped Tino wouldn't move a lot in his sleep. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep in his tired state.

* * *

It was a bit weird, sharing a bed with someone, he thought. He couldn't remember when he had last shared a bed. Okay, to be fair he could probably remember, but that was in a time he wouldn't think of anymore.

He listened Lukas' breath evening out as his tired friend finally got some rest. Tino wasn't sure what to think about the entire situation he had gotten himself into. He was absolutely terrified of anyone knowing, but on the other hand he wanted to cry his worries away. He knew he couldn't do that, though, and chided himself for feeling so comfortable with the thought. Why did he trust Lukas so much anyway? Tino was a trustworthy person, but he didn't trust others that easily, and Lukas had somehow made it to that point in a short time. Tino wasn't sure what to make of it, especially when Lukas had been under his observation as he was altering his signals. Tino thought body language to be much like signals.

He considered of leaving for a moment now that Lukas had fallen asleep, but couldn't find the will to drag himself out of the bed so much more comfortable than his own. He had noticed that Lukas loved soft things, and his bed seemed to be no exception. Besides, he remembered how Lukas had basically asked him to stay, and how he could not say 'no'. Especially when he didn't really want to leave anyway. It was just weird, how the things had come to be, and he was unsure how they would settle out. Tino hated unsureness, as it always made him worry so much. He really should take his own advice and sleep for a while, and hopefully they'd wake before anyone else had.

So he remained where he was, closed his eyes and hoped that things would turn out to be okay despite everything.

* * *

Lukas woke up on the morning to find his bed wonderfully warm. He was not a morning person, so it took him a while to take notice that there was actually someone else in his bed. He opened his eyes to verify this, and saw the sleeping face of Tino just a short distance away from his. He looked so peaceful and heart-meltingly adorable that Lukas wanted to hug the hell out of him, but thought better of it. Tino's blonde hair was just long enough to form a small halo on his hoodie which he used as a pillow.

Lukas could hear others waking up as there were steps on the stairs, the bathroom door opened and closed and someone was making noise in the kitchen. He didn't want to wake up Tino, but knew that he would have to leave before anyone noticed his presence. Luckily he didn't have to, as a loud bang from the kitchen had Tino open his eyes unwillingly.

"It's morning, isn't it?" he asked, even though the sunlight revealed that it must be past nine for it to have risen.

"Yeah", Lukas agreed, knowing well the annoying feeling of waking up. Neither of them appeared to be a morning person.

They lied for a moment in silence, Lukas wondering how nice it felt to have someone here like this. He had been and hosted sleepovers before, but it hadn't been in the same bed nor had it never felt quite the same. This was something more special, something calm and just something he could imagine liking to have for the rest of his life. Yeah, someone someday, not Tino. Even if it was nice with him, too, Lukas guessed it would feel nice with anyone else. He didn't really know but he didn't even want to think what it would mean otherwise.

"I should probably go", Tino said with a yawn, but made yet no move to get out of bed. Lukas, relieved that he didn't have to suggest it, decided to help him with that and with a swift yank took all the covers.

"I told you I don't get cold easily. But I get the hint", Tino said and got up. He was still fully clothed so he had to just pull his socks back on and pull the hoodie over his head and he was almost ready to go. Lukas rose to a sitting position and saw both of their shoes under the window and jackets neatly folded on the chair with his cloak hanging over the seat drying. Apparently Tino had bothered to take them away before putting him to bed. He still had the rest of his clothing, for which he was grateful.

"See you at school tomorrow. Remember, you had a headache yesterday", Tino reminded him with a laugh before disappearing through the window. Lukas rolled his eyes and went to close the window, and at the same time he made sure that Tino had made it down in one piece. He apparently used the nearby tree as help, that sneaky little thing. Like he could forget the headache that still echoed faintly through his skull.

It was going to be a wonderfully relaxing day in bed, with a lot of reading to go with it. He wasn't sick often so he was going to take all the advantage he could get from having a faint headache.

* * *

 **I decided to be nice and update early. Well, not that early, but I kind of felt bad for the cliffhanger. Also Tino's point of view presented for the first time.**


	9. Chapter: Normal is Overrated

Monday started quite normally for Lukas.

No sooner than he had stepped inside the school gates he could sense the annoying Dane approaching. He must have some sort of a sensor that alerted him every time Lukas entered a certain radius. Lukas on the hand was so used to it that he didn't even have to see Mathias to know that he was close.

This time, however, Lukas felt like he wanted a hug. To be honest he had felt like he needed one since the episode in the forest, but he couldn't just ask someone to hug him. For the first time Mathias' greeting seemed convenient for Lukas, and instead of avoiding or pushing Mathias away he let the Dane wrap his arms around him. He didn't lean into it or hug back, but it did feel quite good. Not that he'd ever say it out loud. It ended soon, though, as Mathias stepped back looking worried. He kept his hands on Lukas' shoulders.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked seriously, without the trademark grin.

This was one of the reasons that Mathias was his friend. He might be an annoying idiot most of the time, but he knew when something was wrong and could be very reasonable and level-headed when he wanted. Most importantly he cared. Lukas' lips formed a small smile at his thoughts.

"Okay, now you're really scaring me", Mathias said with a slightly terrified look. Lukas narrowed his eyes at him and saw that he was indeed serious. Come on, his smile wasn't the end of the world or anything.

Lukas got annoyed and smacked the Dane's head.

"Step back, idiot", he said. But to show his gratefulness he didn't hit as hard as he usually did, and there was a fraction of softness in his expression. Mathias seemed to pick up on this as he grinned happily and complied, giving Lukas some space.

Lukas nodded his greeting to Berwald, who was having a one-sided conversation with Tino, and grabbed the latter one's sleeve to drag him to the math class. He had some unfinished business with him, and he was impatient as they would have to present their work on the second lesson.

"See you around", Lukas waved a greeting to the two remaining friends. They stared after him, but Tino seemed to pick up quickly as Lukas didn't have to drag him anymore and he followed Lukas without questions.

When they arrived in front of the classroom's door, the halls were still empty. Lukas could never figure out why others wouldn't arrive before the last minute, but he liked the space and calmness, so he wasn't about to complain. He was about to start about their assignment, but to his delight Tino had already pulled out his notes and showed him how he had thought to complete their project.

"I made this yesterday, hope you don't mind", Tino said with a smile. Lukas shook his head; Tino had done good work.

"Quite the opposite, I think that's a good idea. Let's do it", he said with a nod. Tino beamed at his approval, and Lukas had to turn his head away slightly to avoid the mental blinding that smile seemed to cause him. He still thought of wonderful, stuffy pillows when seeing Tino's smile.

"And now we don't have to be edgy the entire lesson because we know what to do", Tino said as if reading Lukas' intentions. He gave a nod, as that had indeed been his line of thought when dragging Tino away. Yes, he could have explained it to everyone and leave with Tino. But that's not the way he did things and messing with his friends was always worth it.

Nothing spectacular happened during math class. Lukas spent in actually doing his work, and didn't face any major problems he couldn't solve. He kept stealing glances at Tino, though, but that was nothing serious. Tino was still seated next to Eduard, and the two looked like they were plotting something but Lukas knew better: they were really just that excited about math. _Crazy people_ , he thought, _but each to their own I guess_.

Lukas didn't exactly feel anxious about presenting, but he didn't like it either so the next class came by way too fast. He sighed and headed to English, hearing Tino saying goodbye to Eduard as he came to walk beside Lukas. For some reason that made Lukas happier, and the corner of his mouth twitched a bit. But it took just a short look at Tino for the same corner to pull down in concern.

Tino was looking pretty normal, but 'pretty' wasn't enough for Lukas and the small bit out of place didn't go unnoticed by him. It was hard to pinpoint what was different as Lukas couldn't get a clear reading from Tino, as usual. Therefor it wasn't an easy task, but Lukas narrowed his eyes and took the challenge. Tino was putting up his too perfect wall just like any other day, but by closer inspection it was a little cracked now and then, like it would be more straining than normal to keep it up. Now that he thought about it, Tino did seem to have a little more tired look on him than normal.

"Are you alright?" Lukas asked him, making him start a bit. The question was quite sudden breach in their comfortable silence.

"Yes, I'm fine. Why?" Tino replied with a questioning smile. Lukas could detect no sign that it was a lie, but he was skeptical. They arrived to the classroom and headed for their seats.

"You seem a bit strained. Did you not sleep well?" Lukas asked. He really did care about Tino, and was genuinely concerned. That was nothing special, though, as he did care for his friends when something was wrong. He could be a sarcastic evil creature the rest of the time.

"No, I didn't sleep all that well. But I'm still fine, you don't need to worry", Tino said and flashed Lukas one of those extra-soft smiles that he wanted to make a pile of and sleep on it. He nodded at that, believing his companion. If it was just lack of sleep, it probably wasn't anything dangerous.

Then they had to shut up for the time being as the lesson started. Both of them grew stiff as their doom (presentation) approached.

Their presentation wasn't a complete catastrophe, Lukas could give them that. Mr. Germania had clearly been amused and the class had regarded them with you-cannot-be-serious looks. Needless to say, Lukas had fun telling the storyline in such way that it seemed completely insane with a perfect poker face and a deadly serious voice. It also appeared that Tino could hold a poker face almost as well as Lukas, and being serious about funny things came as a second nature to him. Together they managed to confuse their fellow classmates completely. Lukas counted it as a wonderful success.

He spent the rest of the lesson listening to others and trying to catch good books to read. He had to fight a smile when Arthur and Vladimir had chosen _Dracula_ ; it was such an obvious choice for a Brit and a Romanian with an interest to fantasy and folklore. Sadly none of the other books were really of any interest to him, varying from romantic drama to humor. The most interesting was Ludwig's and Feliciano's presentation about a book on strategies – Lukas was quite sure that Ludwig had made that decision. The German seemed to be the type to enjoy such a book, and the Italian was a happy fellow who usually just went with whatever, and often somehow messed things up. Still they were good friends, for unknown reasons.

Tino seemed to be even more tired after the lesson, but lack of sleep kind of did that. Lukas pondered what would cause Tino to lose sleep like that and tried to evaluate how serious it was. He wasn't going to fool himself to believe that Tino would just come and tell him if something was wrong, so as they were exchanging brief goodbyes he said:

"If something is bothering you so that you lose sleep over it, you can tell me about it, you know."

Lukas had thought Tino's smiles to be soft before, but they were nothing compared to the smile of pure happiness that those words got out of him. It looked exactly as soft as every child imagines clouds to be to the touch. It also made Lukas' insides feel funny.

"Thanks. But all is good, I wasn't feeling that well in the evening and that's why I lost some sleep. As you can see, I'm better now", Tino replied, but it was clear that Lukas' words had made him really happy. Lukas nodded, but based on what he knew about Tino and his habits, he was going to keep an eye on the Finn in case he wasn't fine.

"We are going to be late if we don't go now. Enjoy your Norwegian class", Tino said and turned to go to his computer class. Lukas looked after him for a moment before heading his own way. He was definitely going to enjoy the class; Norwegian was his favorite subject. Of course Tino would know that somehow.

Just as Lukas had suspected, Tino did definitely not look 'fine' when they met again in the lunch break. He looked even more strained and his eyes were slightly out of focus, and Lukas noted that he didn't move quite as smoothly like he usually did. It was clear that Tino was trying to put up a front, and Lukas did not have enough meanness in him to call him out in front of Mathias and Berwald. He was really way too nice to Tino. But as soon as they'd be alone he wouldn't be as silent anymore.

After they had taken their trays away Lukas stopped to wait for Tino, who was a bit further down the line. He leaned casually against the wall and watched his surroundings, when he saw something quite interesting: his little brother. For some reason Emil had adventured to the high school side of the building and he looked determined as he marched through the mass of people, clearly looking for someone. Lukas almost called out, as whom else would he be looking for than his big brother, but then Emil spotted who he had been searching and marched straight up to him – it was Tino.

Lukas raised one eyebrow at the scene. Emil had crossed his arms and was saying something to Tino, who looked like someone hit him over the head. Slowly, Tino gave a nod and stared as Emil marched away as quickly as he had come. Lukas wondered what was said, and was about to ask when Tino came up to him but he didn't have to.

"We might have a problem", Tino stated still looking a dazed. Some of the look probably was because he was not fine, but the talk with Emil seemed to have shocked him back to a sharper state. Lukas simply raised the other eyebrow as well in form of an unspoken question.

"Emil did suspect something and put his puffin on patrol on Saturday. The puffin saw me leave on Sunday morning and apparently Emil made his own connections from that. I think I just received a shovel talk from your little brother", Tino answered to Lukas.

Lukas wasn't sure what to feel. On one hand he was very embarrassed that Emil thought they were involved romantically, and on the other he was touched that his brother cared enough to give a shovel talk. He was also worried what would happen now as there weren't that many believable possibilities for Tino's escape through the window. Then there was that small part of him that seemed to melt and wiggle at the idea, but he mentally stabbed it to silence. He was badly enough confused without it.

"Well, that's a problem. If we tell him otherwise, he'll want to know why you were in my room all night when I was supposed to have a headache", Lukas mused out loud.

"Exactly. What do we do now?" Tino asked. He sounded worried but not overly so; Lukas was glad that the idea of dating him didn't seem to be a disgusting idea for Tino.

"We'll think about something. But now, you are not doing that well. Don't think that I haven't noticed", Lukas stated and crossed his arms. They could agonize over their 'relationship' later, right now Tino's health was more important.

"It's not that bad, I'll manage", Tino said with a shrug. Lukas didn't believe him.

"I don't think so. You should go home to rest", Lukas demanded. However, Tino shook his head.

"I don't want to fall back on school work. It's not that bad", he responded. Now it was Lukas' turn to shake his head. He reached out his hand and placed it swiftly on Tino's forehead. Tino winched away from the touch but Lukas followed him; he wasn't that surprised that Tino was startled from it as what he'd gathered someone had not been treating him well.

"You're running a fever. You are going home", Lukas stated without room for arguments, but Tino still refused and tried to brush it off. Finally Lukas got enough and grabbed Tino's arm to drag him to the nurse's office. Tino protested, but a glare from Lukas had him fall silent and comply with a sigh. _Good_.

As Lukas had predicted, Tino got sent home. No wonder as he looked to be almost dead, not that he really was. Apparently he suffered from exhaustion and lack of sleep, but nothing more serious so he should be able to return the next day if he rested now. The thing was, Tino lived a bit farther away and he could not be let go without monitoring, so Lukas was sent home with him. Just his luck.

Seeing where Tino lived was a plus though, and he was curious so he went without a complaint to anyone else but himself.

He supported Tino as they made their way through the snow and crispy air. Some houses had already been decorated with Christmas lights as the holiday seasons approached. Tino was lightly leaning on his shoulder, which didn't bother Lukas. It did bother him that it didn't bother him, though. He actually liked the feeling and the light smell that reminded him of summer, which seemed to come from Tino. He enjoyed the slightly romantic feeling, but when he realized what he was thinking he had to shake himself. There was nothing romantic about someone being sick and needing help. Not to mention that it was the decorations and snow making it romantic, definitely not Tino.

When they finally arrived at Tino's house they were both exhausted; Tino wasn't exactly heavy, but it was still a long walk to support someone. The house wasn't that small but it wasn't big either, and it was a pleasant shade of light blue with a brick roof. Tino fumbled with his pockets before pulling out a key and unlocking the door. Lukas heard him take a deep breath before he opened the door to let them both in.

Straight would be the word Lukas would use to describe the house. It was so perfectly in order with everything looking like placed with a ruler. It was also modern and in no way unpleasant, but it did make one fear of knocking something out of place or dragging some dirt inside. Tino led him to the other side of the house, and on the journey Lukas could see glimpses of the nice looking kitchen and orderly office. The door to Tino's room opened.

It was simple and in order, but not as strictly as the rest of the house. A wardrobe, a bed, a desk with a wooden chair and a narrow bookshelf could be found from the room, but apart from that and the deep blue carpet there was not much more. A laptop was sitting on the desk. Lukas could imagine the room fitting Tino quite well.

"Go to bed", Lukas commanded after Tino just stood there for a while without a move. Tino sighed and went to his wardrobe. Lukas was about to comment before he realized that Tino was changing to more comfortable clothes. Lukas didn't bother turning around; they had seen each other change many times in the lockers and he didn't think Tino would be changing his underwear. He was right.

When Tino got to bed Lukas turned the chair to face Tino and sat on it.

"Will you tell me now what has exhausted you to this point?" Lukas asked with crossed arms. He was not too happy that Tino didn't take better care of himself.

"It has to do with a surprise I'm planning. I've worked on it for a while and got lost in it for the past night. I didn't feel too well either, so I guess it was some sort reaction from both", Tino responded with a shrug. Lukas shook his head but didn't ask more. Tino would tell if he wanted to.

Tino shut his eyes and looked to be ready to sleep, but then his eyes opened again.

"You don't have to stay, you know. You were just supposed to take me home", Tino said.

"Yeah, and when I'd leave you'd just go back to work on that surprise of yours instead of getting rest. Not going to happen", Lukas stated. If he was completely truthful, he didn't want to leave, either. He chalked it up on being tired.

"Fine, then. But I do have to take out my contacts before sleeping", Tino said and rose to a sitting position. Lukas' eyebrows shot upwards at that.

"You have contacts?" he asked, surprised. Tino chuckled.

"Yeah. Not for vision, though. I just want to fit in", Tino said and reached to take the contacts out. Lukas turned his head a bit as watching people poke their eyes made him feel uncomfortable. He did wonder about Tino's statement, but when he looked back at him he understood.

Tino had violet eyes. Not the hazy-breezy violet that Emil had, more of a mix of amethyst and blueberry, but violet still. To say Lukas was surprised would be an understatement.

"Wow", he said, and not completely out of surprise. The violet really suited Tino's face, making him look more innocent and cute than he already was. Lukas wanted to hug the hell out of him. Damn cuteness.

"Sorry I didn't tell you. Violet eyes just stand out and I didn't want that", Tino said sheepishly. Lukas shrugged at that.

"It's not really important, no need to apologize", he replied and continued, "But if you won't go to sleep you will have some apologizing to do."

Tino rolled his eyes but complied and fell down on his bed again after placing the used contacts on his nightstand that Lukas had not seen before as it was hidden on the other side of the bed. Lukas waited and watched for his breath to even out. Tino was really tired so it was no wonder he fell asleep fast.

Lukas thought briefly of leaving, but decided to stay. Tino would wake up at some point and he would need food. Lukas was still needed; he could go home later. He just hoped that Tino's foster parents weren't too unhappy for him being there. When he was absolutely sure that Tino had fallen asleep, Lukas started to hum a deep, soft lullaby his father had sometimes sung when he was still small. He knew that Tino wouldn't hear him, but it seemed like something he should do.

Monday might have started normally, but it sure didn't end so.

* * *

 **I'm terribly sorry of being this late, but I've had rotten luck the past few weeks. My computer breaking was just the tip of the iceberg. I replaced it so now I can write again and hopefully not leave this big gaps between the updates. The next one might take a while, though, as I'm running ragged with work and National Archery Championships. Expext it next week.**

 **Anyway, something is definitely going on. I'm sorry that this chapter sucks. I will bring more fluff next time.**


	10. Chapter: Hell is a Weird Place

"Lukas?"

The Norwegian in question looked up from his book; he was doing homework. It had been a while and Tino had apparently woken up – only for a short while, though, if Lukas had anything to say to that.

"Hmm?" Lukas hummed with a questioning glance. Tino still had some sleep in his violet eyes and was looking a bit sheepish. Lukas sighed mentally as he guessed what was coming.

"You didn't have to stay, you know. It must be getting late", Tino said and started to sit up. Lukas stood quickly and the book on his lap fell to the floor as he leaped to stop the Finn. He placed his hand on Tino's shoulder, ignoring the instinctual winch it caused.

"I wanted to stay. And you are not getting up, you need rest", Lukas said strictly.

"But-"

"No 'but's! If you need something, I'll bring it to you", Lukas cut Tino off.

He saw Tino open his mouth to protest further and realized that he would get nowhere like this. He quickly lifted his hand to signal that he wasn't done yet.

"Hear me out before you say anything. Please", Lukas said softly. He never said 'please' unless it was absolutely necessary. Tino clamped his mouth shut and nodded.

Lukas took a short moment to think about his words. Tino was clearly not accustomed on accepting help, and Lukas was unsure if it had been offered to him in his past or not. Tino was a person who was used to rely on no one but himself and solved his own problems. It was probably very hard for him to put down all his past experiences and customs. Lukas didn't think it was that much pride that made Tino to reject the help – though it might still play a role – but it seemed rather like it was a defense mechanism or an automatic reaction much like recoil. He would have to be careful if he didn't want that reaction out of Tino.

"Tino, I know you can do all you need yourself. But as a friend I am responsible to tell you that it would affect your health negatively, and I'm here because I care and don't want to see you any worse. You don't need to ask for help: I'm offering it", Lukas said honestly but not without a certain amount of strain; he pretty much never told people he had soft feelings. Tino was yet again an exception to things he thought he knew about himself. Then, because Tino was eyeing him fondly and because he needed to say something non-gooey after that, he added:

"And if you won't accept that help I'm going to push it down your throat."

Tino chuckled.

"Alright, I get your point. But I was actually trying to go to the toilet", Tino said, amused. Lukas' eyebrows lifted slightly from surprise and the corner of his mouth twitched into a smile.

"Well then, there is not much for me to do in order to assist you on that one. But seriously, let me help you where I can", Lukas said in turn.

"I promise that I'll try", Tino responded seriously. Yet there was a more gentle quality in his posture and voice, which convinced Lukas that Tino had taken his words to the heart. Lukas gazed into the violet eyes for a while, but couldn't find anything contradicting from them. He was not used to the color yet and it pierced his concentration, his mind wandering to many different things like a bunch of flies buzzing around. Lukas broke the connection and stepped aside to let Tino get out of bed.

Lukas listened the steady steps disappear to the end of the hall where the bathroom must be. He picked his book from the floor and checked it for damage, but the school book was just fine. He decided to be done with home work for the day, and put the book back into his bag before sitting down to wait. It wasn't the wisest thing to do as he began to think, and when he thought too much he started to worry. Like what had happened to Tino, what was the surprise he was working on, about the weird feelings of softness he had around Tino and how charming the violet eyes looked on him. His thoughts went from full speed to total stop like a train wreck at that. He did _not_ just think that. And if he did, wasn't it normal to admire stuff like that? He decided that yes, Tino looked charming with violet eyes, and there was nothing wrong with the thought as it was merely an observation.

Tino apparently kept his word as it didn't take long for him to reappear. He was also kind enough to return to bed without separate orders. Lukas was unsure if the willingness was because of his speech or because Tino was too tired to protest.

Just then the front door opened and the corridor carried the echo of enough rustling of clothes for the worth of two people. Lukas looked at Tino, who looked away.

"I'll go to meet them and explain the situation. And maybe get some food if you behave and stay in bed", Lukas said while standing up. Apparently the food was the right thing to mention as Tino looked hopeful and dismayed at the same time like he had been considering if the food was worth staying put and decided that yes, yes it was.

Lukas learned that Tino could be bribed with food. It was a wonderful discovery.

Lukas left the room and located Tino's foster parents by the sounds coming from the kitchen. He walked to the doorway, which drew the attention of a slim woman and a tall man who were clearly putting away groceries. _So that's what the noise was all about_ , Lukas thought.

"Uh… Who are you?" the woman asked, clearly confused. Lukas guessed strangers didn't wander into their house daily.

"I'm Lukas", he introduced himself and maintained a stoic expression.

"Well, hi then, Lukas, but that doesn't really clear anything up", the man said sounding just as confused as the woman. Still they both had friendly voices and expressions, so Lukas guessed that these were nice people.

"I'm Tino's friend", Lukas clarified.

"Oh, so you're the Lukas he keeps mentioning. I'm Marie and this is Frank, pleased to meet you. Forgive us the confusion, but Tino doesn't bring friends home", the woman, Marie, said with a friendly smile. It didn't have the cheerful and soft quality of Tino's smile, but it was certainly sinister. Wait, Tino had talked about him? Lukas wasn't sure what to think about that.

"Pleased to meet you too. Tino became ill during the day so I accompanied him home and stayed to keep an eye on him. Speaking of which, I think some food would do good for him now", Lukas explained. Both of the foster parents looked concerned.

"How ill? And we'll cook up something for you two to eat, don't worry about that", Frank said.

"Nothing too serious, he is just exhausted according to the school nurse. He should be okay tomorrow, but if he seems tired you should keep him home. I don't think he'll stay if someone doesn't force him to", Lukas replied. Frank chuckled.

"Yes, you're right on that one. He's a sweet child, but so stubborn", Marie agreed.

"How long he's been with you?" Lukas asked out of curiosity. It seemed like he would get some answers from these people; getting answers from Tino was like trying to put a woolen thread through an eye of a needle with gloves on. It was pretty much impossible, Lukas had tried both.

"Only for a half a year. We like him, so we hope he stays. It's always problematic to take an older child, especially a teenager, but we wanted to offer a home for someone who needed it and we don't exactly have time for a very young child. We are lucky that Tino is a good kid despite his past", Frank answered. Lukas nodded, but internally he itched for answers.

Marie took out vegetables and offered them to Frank. She then took out ingredients that revealed today's main course: lasagna.

"I can help you to cook. But, Tino doesn't really speak about his past. Where did he come from?" Lukas asked while taking a knife and some tomatoes.

"He was found from the middle of a forest not too far from here. He claims to have no memory from how he got there. The child services told us that when they searched his name they found out that he had gone missing from Finland 7 years ago when his parents were killed. They think he has repressed the traumatic memories, which is why he can't remember. 9-year-olds don't just go missing in Finland and appear in Canada years later without 'help', after all", Marie told Lukas.

Lukas' mind was whirling. He didn't believe that Tino couldn't remember, it was obvious for him that he could, but he was quite sure that Tino didn't want to remember. Considering that his parents had been killed and it was more than likely that he had been kidnapped, Tino most likely had more than enough traumatic memories. Not to even mention the scars… Lukas shivered a bit. At least he knew now the reason that Tino kept secrets.

"No wonder he doesn't speak about it, then", Lukas commented. He felt very conflicted, at the same time wanting to hug Tino's hurt away and to hunt down whomever did that to him.

"Yes. We just want him to have a fresh start. It's a good sign that you are here, it means he's starting to adjust", Marie said with a nod. Then Lukas thought of something:

"If he's been with you for a half year, why has he been in school only for a month or so?"

Frank and Marie exchanged looks before the latter answered:

"He was still recovering and the doctors didn't clear him for school until then. One of the reasons he is still fond of food; he was almost starved when found. Surprisingly he has been educated well as he was not behind the students of his age."

That did explain Tino's habit of perking up when food was mentioned. Bygones were bygones, though, so Lukas would feel no shame in bribing Tino with food. Okay, maybe he would feel a little shame, but it wasn't like Tino was starved anymore. Actually he seemed to have it quite good as Frank and Marie seemed to be very nice and caring for him.

They asked some questions in turn and made small chit-chat for the time being. Lukas didn't mind, but he found himself wishing for the companionable and comfortable silence he could share with Tino. After the salad was ready and the lasagna in the oven Frank spoke up:

"Tino's birthday is coming soon, but he doesn't seem to be too happy about it and has wished that we would just let him be on that day. If it's not too much to ask, would you mind coming over to celebrate with him so that he wouldn't be all alone? It seems that he's rather fond of you so maybe you could cheer him up."

Lukas felt like he was a little kid running in the forest and then being surprised when getting a tree branch to the face. Basically, what he had expected when introducing himself as Tino's friend and then got treated like one? He was surprised, but not necessarily in a bad way. Tree branches don't actually feel that bad, most of the time, and running in a forest is nice. It was just so obvious it would happen at some point that he shouldn't be surprised.

"Uh, okay. I didn't know his birthday was coming soon, though. When is it?" Lukas asked politely, but he was a bit curious.

"6th of December according to his files in Finland. So in one and a half week", Frank responded.

"Very well, then", Lukas said. He wasn't exited or anything, but he was kind of happy that he got to spend time with Tino on a special occasion. What really bothered him was that he didn't know why it made him kind of happy. At least he knew why he didn't just want to avoid it as Tino knew about his secret, but 'happy' was not the next step from 'not bothered'.

When the lasagna was ready Lukas put a portion of it and the salad on two separate plates and took them to Tino's room. He put a little extra on Tino's plate; maybe he did feel a little bad on inquiring about his past from his foster parents, but it was necessary in order to feed his curiosity. It was also a possibility that he did feel bad for Tino in general, but he was not one to pity and he doubted that Tino would appreciate it if he did.

Lukas wasn't that great on his own feelings; he couldn't read himself. But at least he had them, contrary to the popular belief.

He found Tino sleeping, curled up under the covers, one arm hanging from the edge. For some reason Lukas thought of a cat: cute, independent and stubborn. Also the position Tino was sleeping in was very cat-like. Tino did look very cute when asleep, his face even more youthful and innocent-looking than awake, almost angelic. The halo of his hair didn't exactly lessen the image. Lukas contemplated for a while whether to wake him up or not, but decided that food was best when fresh and warm and that putting a plate with salad in the microwave wasn't probably the best idea.

He set his plate down on the desk and Tino's on the nightstand that had barely room for it. He reached his hand to shake Tino awake, but the so very peaceful look and the blonde hair falling in front of the shut eyes made him hold back. He slowly and carefully brushed Tino's hair aside. It felt so soft. Tino's eyes fluttered open at the movement – apparently he was a light sleeper – and for a few seconds they stared at each other for an eternity.

"Food is here", Lukas said and pulled back like nothing special had happened, but his insides were doing something funny. Maybe it was because of the eye color he still hadn't gotten used to. Tino looked a bit confused and sleepy still, but it vanished quickly at the mention of food.

"What's to eat?" he asked, barely masking his excitement. Lukas chuckled at his eagerness and nodded towards the plate. Judging by Tino's expression, he liked lasagna.

It was so nice to fall in comfortable silence again as they ate. No need for chit-chat or needless conversation, only some remark about the food every here and there. Lukas took glances at Tino every now and then and tried to put all his feelings back together. What in hell was wrong with him? He almost dropped his fork when a dawning realization came upon him.

The funny feelings.

His thoughts on cuteness, attractiveness and sweet smiles.

Him being so lenient and nice towards Tino.

Him not only caring, but admitting it out loud.

Not to mention all the comfortable silences and such.

He was so, very stupid. And even worse than being stupid, he was having a crush. On Tino. Oh hell no. What was he supposed to do now? He wasn't sure how to feel about his feelings. It was still just a crush, it would blow over by itself, right? Then he remembered something to make it even worse: Emil had given Tino the shovel talk, and they still had to sort that out somehow.

It wasn't because Tino was a male; Lukas had accepted his bisexuality long time ago. He preferred to care about the person more than the person's gender anyways. It also wasn't because he didn't like or care about Tino, he really did. So what was the problem? The fact that Lukas did not crush on people, especially not on ones he had barely known for weeks and who were hiding secrets. Yes, Tino was apparently a good person, but still. Lukas did not crush on people. Especially not when it was way too fast and on the wrong person.

He would just ignore it for now and wait and see. It couldn't be that bad, could it?

"Hey, we still have to think up something to distract Emil. I mean, if we let him think that we're in a relationship, he will tell others, won't he? Except if we can brie him into silence", Tino said with a pondering look that Lukas found, to his annoyance, extremely cute.

It was going to be hell. He was so screwed.

* * *

 _A stroll through Tino's memories; The Shovel Talk:_

Tino was feeling very tired. He had worked all night long on his surprise, but not on purpose. It was just so captivating job to do and he had gotten lost in his excitement. The food tray almost slipped to the floor from his hands, but he caught himself before that happened. He sighed in relief: Lukas would not leave him alone with his pestering if he showed such a sign of weakness. Speaking of Lukas, he was giving Tino suspicious looks from the distance. Tino was trying his best, he really was. He wasn't just feeling all that well, but he could never leave his work and go home as long as he could stand – and even then it would be hard for him to not stay in school.

The unneeded proof of his tired state came when someone tapped his shoulder. He should've been paying more attention to his surroundings. He turned to see Emil at his side, looking glum with crossed arms. Tino wondered what was going on.

"Uh, hi?" he tried, but it came out more as a question than a greeting. Then again, in this situation it was socially acceptable.

"I knew something was on. Mr. Puffin was on the watch in the morning, he saw you leave. Lukas might be a jerk, but he's my brother so if you hurt him you're dead. I like you well enough, so otherwise I don't care", Emil said sharply. Tino had to fight the surprise, but it didn't go that well in his shocked state. He didn't feel all that tired anymore. Emil gave him a look.

"Don't act so surprised; I'm not a child, I know what you are doing with him. Just… treat him fairly, okay? He's never been that good with people and I'd like to see him happy", Emil said more quietly and softly, like he'd be afraid that someone might actually hear him. It would've been very sweet if he hadn't been so horribly wrong on their relationship status.

Tino could only give a nod; he wouldn't trust himself to form actual words. Just like that Emil was gone, and Tino was left in a state of shock. This would complicate things, for sure. But there was a small part of him that made him feel very happy at the thought. This proceeded to confuse him even more as he put his tray away and went to tell Lukas about their problem. Why did everything have to be so complicated? It seemed like the whole world was some sort of weird hell for him.

* * *

 **I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed the last chapters, it's truly motivating to read that. I brought you this chapter as a poor attempt at a reward.**

 **If you're wondering about the starving, I actually based it on the facts that a) Finland had the last non-militial related famine in Europe during the 1800's and b) Finland had a horrible famine during the late 1600's: around 30% of the population perished, which is population-wise the worst famine found in history (not saying others weren't bad or didn't have a horrible time, don't get me wrong). That's almost every third person dying. The slightly funny thing is that the order didn't break: the laws were kept up, outbreaks didn't happen (except one in Karelia, but it didn't last long) and while criminal rates were higher than normal they didn't skyrocket, criminals were punished and violent crimes were still rare. Finns still obeying the law when 1/3 of population is dying and the rest starving - even the nobles in Finland were starving as the food simply ran out. And that's history for today!**


	11. Chapter: Trust

Lukas concentrated hard. He would get it right this time.

He turned his focus on the small stone few meters away and took a deep breath. He extended his hand and willed the magic to wrap around the stone and bring it to him. The stone twitched, moved a few centimeters on the snowy ground and stopped. Lukas let out a small groan of frustration; he could do almost anything when he didn't have to extend his magic outside his body, but the extending was a serious problem for him. He had already been at it for hours, but couldn't make the damn stone move more than that.

"If I can have a say, I think you are forcing it too much. Just let it flow", Tino commented from the nearby fallen tree trunk he was sitting on. They were deep in a forest as they couldn't take the risk of a random passerby seeing them. And no, they were not in the same forest the incident with the fairies had been; Lukas did not want to mess around with magic in there.

"And how would you be able to tell?" Lukas asked, annoyed.

"You furrow your brows more than normal and look like you want to force the magic to move the stone. Besides, you do have a habit of being forceful and strict. I don't think that will work with magic, especially as you are naturally gifted. Think of it as asking nicely instead", Tino suggested, "Besides, this was your idea. If you're not going to listen to me, what I'm here for?"

Lukas sighed and grudgingly admitted to himself that Tino was right. He was trying very hard, and it didn't seem to work at all. He also was sometimes harsh to his surroundings, so he'd let the remark slide this time. Practicing magic was a lot harder than he'd ever guessed.

He knew he wouldn't get anywhere while being all frustrated and wound up, so he decided that a break would be in question and sat down on a nearby rock. He took a glance at Tino, who nodded in approval. It made Lukas happy that he approved, and it annoyed him that it made him happy. In any case, it indeed had been his own idea to have Tino watching, so he was not in a position to complain. Even if Tino claimed not to know a lot about magic, he could see and think of things that Lukas couldn't while practicing. Pretty much anyone would do for the job, but Tino was the only one whom knew of his secret, so there was not much of choice.

Not to mention it was already Thursday, which meant that Tino's birthday would be the next Sunday, and Lukas still hadn't approached the subject. First, he didn't even know how, and second, he wasn't eager to spend any more time with Tino. It was bad enough that he without a doubt had a crush on him; he did not want the feelings and he definitely didn't want them to continue. The best course of action would be to avoid the Finn as much as possible, but it was kind of hard in school and here he was with him again, practicing magic. He was so stupid.

At least they had managed to solve the matter of Emil, though the solution was less than ideal: Lukas had promised not to pester him about calling him 'big brother' if he'd keep quiet for the time being. So in short, Emil still thought they were in a relationship. Lukas was not happy about it, but at least his little brother wasn't asking any questions and was leaving the two of them alone. He guessed it could be worse.

"Hey", Tino said to gain his attention. Lukas looked at him and raised his eyebrow as a mark of listening.

"Would you want to know about the surprise I'm planning? I think you could maybe… assist me", Tino said, and the pause at the end didn't go unnoticed by Lukas. He was surprised: Tino was not only offering information willingly, but actually kind of asking help. He hadn't done that before and Lukas felt like it was a serious display of trust. To most people it would seem like a normal request but Lukas saw more than that, and despite himself he felt his insides melt a little. Just a little, though.

"Of course, you should know how curious I am by now", Lukas said and fought the small smile appearing to the corner of his mouth just enough to satisfy himself. Tino chuckled and nodded before taking a deep breath in turn. Lukas guessed it was hard for him in a way, especially if this was the first time he revealed something willingly.

"I'm going to give Christmas presents to everyone", Tino said shyly, but with a happy smile.

Lukas stared. He was not only processing the information, but also looking at the smile. It was somehow very different than normal, and it wasn't because of happiness. There was something so simple and natural in this smile, like giving gifts was something close to his very being. It was just as gorge- no, _nice_ as the other smiles Tino had. Yes, nice, nothing more. Lukas preferred the soft smiles.

"Umm, what do you mean by 'everyone'?" Lukas asked. He couldn't be talking about the entire world, so that had to be somehow defined.

"Everyone I can think of. Mainly school and the children hospital nearby", Tino said. He was still smiling.

So that was the surprise he'd been working on: presents to everyone. It was such an idiotic reason to overwork for to the point of exhaustion. Tino had been back immediately on Tuesday, not that Lukas had been surprised. Actually, he would have been very surprised if he hadn't shown up. The only good thing was that Tino truly seemed to have recovered.

"I don't really know what to say. Except 'why' and 'how am I supposed to help'", Lukas said in monotone. He really didn't know what to do. Besides the feeling of astonishment caused by the reveal, the crushing side of him was squealing to help but the rest of him was tying that side up and stuffing a sock to its mouth to keep it silent. Somewhere deep he knew he'd end up helping anyway, but he could still put up a fight.

"Well, I never had a chance to give anyone anything, so I really want to. It also gives the chance for people to feel important and remembered, which feeling everyone does not have. Like Matthew, people seem to forget his existence all the time. And… we still have it good, you know. I'd like to give to those who never received anything, but that's not possible now. Maybe someday I can make more people happy, but for now I'll just do it for as many people as I can", Tino said with a very shy smile.

Lukas' expression softened a fraction. He understood that he was being told something that had never been revealed before, and that it truly seemed to be part of Tino to give. Happiness was naturally not limited to or guaranteed by gifts, but it was his way to spread some joy. He really wanted to hug Tino, and he wasn't even bothered to get ticked off by his feelings this time. Stupid crush was making him soft.

"Impressive. How?" Lukas responded. It would be a lot of work to do that all, especially with the kids in hospital thrown in. He guessed that was what Tino wanted his help for. To his shame he had to wreck his memory for a while to remember Matthew. A quiet kid, brother to the loudmouthed Alfred, right?

"Well, this is where it gets complicated…" Tino said, suddenly looking very sheepish. Lukas focused a demanding glare at him, but got the feeling that something important was about to be said.

"Um, remember when I told you that I had come in contact with magic before? I seem to have some kind of special ability to make almost anything, as long as it's small enough and I'm thinking of it as a present. I can't make anything at random or do anything else out of the ordinary bounds. I think it has something to do with the intention and feeling that makes the magic flow in my case, which is why it needs so specific conditions in order to work", Tino explained and managed to sound apologetic.

"And you couldn't mention this earlier?" Lukas asked, now very annoyed. Tino could have brought this up in many occasions after he found out about Lukas' magic, but decided not to. It was only slightly calming him down that Tino had decided to tell eventually, and without pressure, too. But seriously, some trust would have been nice!

"I'm sorry, I just… didn't know how to. Besides, it wouldn't have been a surprise if I had said something", Tino said, sounding very sad. He had tears forming in his amethyst eyes – he had taken off the brown contacts once they were alone – which he tried to hide by turning his head. Lukas couldn't be angry at that face, let alone after the apology as he understood. He felt a bit ashamed and looked at the ground as he said:

"Apology accepted. I am also sorry for getting upset. I understand it was not easy to tell and I am thankful that you eventually did. I also understand that this is really important to you, so I'll help if I can. It's just that I expected to have reached a certain level of trust with you earlier, yet you have not told me practically anything. This is the first time you offered me information."

He had put his thoughts right out there. He had decided that if he wanted more out of Tino, he perhaps should voice his own concerns more often. He looked up and saw Tino looking at him with and apologetic smile that had the unbelievably soft quality only he seemed to be able to conjure.

"Thanks, I appreciate that. I will also try to do better. And I actually wanted to surprise you as well, but it seems that I would need a little help, and I don't know who else to ask. Also as you can do magic, you'll be a lot more helpful than anyone else, and I did promise you to try to accept your help", Tino said.

Lukas nodded at that. He could understand reasons piling up and it being easier not to tell. But because of this conversation, he would feel like a hypocrite if he didn't tell about certain things as well. He stood up as he was getting a little numb in the cold, and the frost on the rock had melted from his warmth and seeped through his clothes, which didn't feel too good.

"Actually, I have also something to tell. When meeting with your foster parents, they mentioned your birthday and wished me to spend it with you. I didn't know how to bring it up either. Also they told me what they know of your past, or at least some of it. Just that you know", Lukas confessed.

Tino tensed visibly and looked away. He often dropped his guard in Lukas' presence nowadays, so he could see the tightened shoulders and slightly clenched jawline, but his position was leaning back rather than forward. From that Lukas knew Tino wasn't angry but that the knowledge definitely bothered him.

"I won't force you to my company if you don't want to; I'm not Mathias. It's your call. Also, knowing your past doesn't change anything, and if you think I'll feel sorry for you, then I recommend you to join Mathias in the 'obvious idiot' club", Lukas added. It made the tension from Tino's jaw disappear and his shoulders relaxed a bit. Lukas had been successful.

"Your company is fine. It's just not a good day to celebrate a birthday. And don't play innocent; you surely asked them about me", Tino said with an even voice. He wasn't angry or visibly upset, but he wasn't happy about it either.

"Why not? And of course I asked, don't tell me you didn't expect it", Lukas said just as evenly. Tino gave him a look.

"I can't say I didn't expect it, but that doesn't make me any more pleased about it. And about the birthday, it's 6th of December. Think", Tino said.

Lukas was confused at first before he remembered something he probably should have thought in the first place. He still didn't get why it was a bad day, though. He actually let out a dry chuckle as he realized one thing:

"I know what day it is, but I don't still get why it's a bad day, mind you. And we seem to have one similarity in our birthdays: mine is 17th of May."

Tino's head tilted in a confused manner before he realized the date and chuckled.

"Yeah, apparently we do. It's a bad day for me though as our celebrations are not really a happy sort. It's a really solemn and quiet day when you light a candle for the veterans and visit their graves and such. Some do celebrate later in the evening and I think they even have some fireworks, but mostly it's spent with family in a quiet manner. It's a happy day of course, but it's also a day to remember the sacrifices, which makes it sort of sorrowful", Tino explained. Lukas supposed that would kill the mood for a birthday.

"Also, it happens to be the day my parents died", Tino said. He was looking at his feet, not meeting Lukas' gaze. Lukas blinked in surprise. Tino seemed to be really trying to keep his promise to tell more, and Lukas could appreciate it. He smiled a little.

"Thanks for telling me. Would it be cool if I brought cake?" Lukas suggested, knowingly hitting the soft point for food. Tino looked up with mixed emotions on his face, making him look delighted, surprised and doubtful at the same time, and all that because of the mention of cake. Lukas couldn't help it: he laughed. Not a dry chuckle or a short bark, but a laugh that made him bow over and support himself by leaning his hands against his knees. It didn't last long, but Tino was still staring at him, now with awe, as he straightened.

"Sorry, you just had the best look on your face. It's decided, then: I'll come over and bring cake", Lukas declared. Damned be his feelings, he was helping out a friend on a bad day, and that was not something he backed down on because of a silly crush. He had a feeling that Tino hadn't had the best birthdays lately, so he thought that even a few good memories would help him. Tino sighed, but complied with a nod. Lukas knew he couldn't resist the cake. He wondered about Tino's family, though. Did he have any relatives? Like aunts, uncles and cousins? And what about that brother he had mentioned, but his foster parents hadn't?

"Can I ask one more question about your past?" Lukas asked tentatively. Tino gave him a pointed look, which soon softened with a little guilt.

"You can always ask, but I can't guarantee any answers. I will tell if I can", Tino said with a nod.

"Very well. I wanted to ask about your relatives. Do you have them in Finland? And I kind of heard you talking to Emil when we were doing our project in my house, and you mentioned a brother, but your foster parents didn't say anything about him", Lukas said.

"Really, you are very efficient in gathering knowledge about me. I should have known you would eavesdrop", Tino said with a shake of his head, but he sounded disappointed rather than upset or angry.

"However, I can still answer that question. I have a few cousins, but my grandparents are dead. And the brother I mentioned is actually my half-brother, we have the same father. I didn't even know I had a brother before my parents died since he was born and raised by his mother in Russia – that's why there are no mentions of him in the files in Finland. The rest that I could tell you already know as you eavesdropped", Tino explained.

"Is he the reason to your disappearance and the other things?" Lukas asked softly. If he was, Lukas could understand the term 'not the best brother' that Tino had used. Lukas was a big brother himself, and he would never even dare to think about doing such things to Emil.

"No, he's not", Tino said with a shake of his head. There was a heavy silence after that, which was not unpleasant but it wasn't the usual comfortable silence either.

"But back to the surprise, would you like to come over tomorrow and see what you can do? Also, you could continue the practice now. Just relax and let the magic flow; you're lucky enough not to need any special conditions in order to do so", Tino said, lifting the silence.

Lukas nodded, and turned back to face the small stone. At the same time he realized that Tino had been sitting still for a very long time. Apparently he wasn't teasing when he said that he didn't get cold easily – he still had no gloves on. Lukas shook the thought out of his head and tried his best to relax and just think of the stone coming to him without much force of will. To his utter surprise, he felt the magic move freely and the stone jumped to him. He stared at it while hearing Tino clap in the background.

"Good job! You got it now", Tino said with a wide grin. It was very contagious and Lukas found himself smiling a bit.

"Thanks for the advice. For someone who claims not to know much about magic, you surely seem to know what you're talking about", Lukas commented. Tino gave a shrug, but Lukas couldn't bring himself to care: he was concentrating on seeing what other amazing things he could do.

Somehow, Lukas felt very content like this.

* * *

 **Seriously, thank you guys for reviewing. It's really motivating, though it might not seem so as this chapter isn't the best. Bit of a filler, I'd say. Don't worry, though, I do have a plot and I did plan this way ahead - even if it conveniently happens to answer some questions asked, I actually planned it long ago.**

 **The issue of how Finland actually aquires the presents isn't properly adressed (at least I haven't noticed), so this is my take on the process of how it's done. Elves are a bit... different in Finnish mythology.**

 **Also, cookies for everyone who knows the history behind the dates. Take it if you deserve it: (::)**


	12. Chapter: Take the Fall

Lukas groaned into his pillow. Damn everything.

He lay on his bed, face pressed to the pillows that were soft enough to satisfy him. It had already been a long day, and he had only just arrived from school. There was no way he was going to get up and be functional for the rest of the day. Not even if someone offered coffee. He was so done.

It wasn't just because of school, even if the teachers treated them like slaves now that Christmas approached; they were all overworked and buried in piles of homework. On top of that Lukas had picked up practicing magic as often as he could, which resulted him not having that much time to work on school. This much he maybe could have handled, but ever since his feelings decided to have a field trip, each day became that much more stressful. Normally it didn't take quite this bad toll on him, but today had been exceptionally bad day on all fronts.

First off, Tino had been overworking himself again. Lukas had accompanied him the day after he suggested it, and witnessed the process. Apparently the use of magic took a lot out of Tino, which explained why he had started so early as he could only make few presents at a time. He had gone and exhausted himself trying to make the presents faster, and Lukas had to poke him through their history lesson so that he wouldn't fall asleep. He had tried to get Tino to go home, but hadn't been successful this time. Tino was way too stubborn for his own good.

Still Lukas had to admit that the present-making was a sight to see: the image of Tino with his eyes sparkling, all caught up in his own world while weaving delicately through the air, had been printed into his mind for forever. He also had to give some credit to his friend; the guy could use his imagination. Everything he made was very detailed, and Lukas didn't make even half as good job when he tried it. Tino had shrugged and fixed them, and it apparently had helped him a lot as it wasn't as taxing to take something that was already there and modify it. Lukas was glad he could offer some help and that he didn't have a similar quota on his magic use, even if Tino said that it was getting better the more he used it. Maybe someday he could make presents for a lot more people.

Maybe if that had been the end of it, Lukas wouldn't be lying on his stomach never wanting to get up. But no, his feelings didn't want to make things easy, and throughout the day he felt like they had gone to an amusement park and loved especially the rollercoaster. Having a crush was terrible. Even more so as the feelings just wouldn't die no matter how much he mentally stabbed, ignored or avoided them. For a moment Lukas had even considered to stop resisting, but he couldn't.

It was simply a cherry on top of the cake that every teacher had assigned them with too much homework. Lukas knew he should be completing it. No chance, he was not moving.

He sighed and sunk even deeper into the pillows when he thought about the coming Sunday. It was already Wednesday, which meant that Tino's birthday was just around the corner. Lukas knew that he had decided to ignore his feelings for the sake of his friend, but it was proving to be a lot harder than he'd thought.

A knock on his door broke the cozy silence Lukas had been basking in. He groaned into his pillow again.

"What is it?" he asked, turning his head slightly so his voice wouldn't be all muffled.

"Mathias came to see you", Emil's voice drifted from the other side of the door, followed by his footsteps as he left before Lukas could give an answer. Lukas groaned and dropped his head to the pillow as much as he could. Why was the idiot there to torture him?

He heard the unmistakable heavy steps and laughter of Mathias before the door opened. Lukas didn't move, but mumbled to his pillow loud enough for the Dane to hear:

"No. Go away."

"Not a chance", Mathias answered surprisingly sternly and shut the door. It made Lukas almost look, but he still wasn't functional enough. Nope, not moving.

"Now, you are going to tell me what on earth has been going on with you. You have been very moody and have no time to hang out with me anymore. You have also been more violent recently, mind you", Mathias demanded while seating himself in his armchair. Normally he'd come to the bed, but Lukas guessed the violence had an effect on him.

"Helvete", Lukas muttered. He knew he was not going to get out of this. Tomorrow he would find out who let the idiot in. He'd do it right now, but then he'd have to move.

"I'm just more stressed than normal. Too much school work. Sorry I'm taking it out on you", Lukas said and hoped Mathias dropped the matted. He knew better, but one can hope.

"You apologized… Wow. This is more serious than I thought", Mathias said and this time he actually sounded worried. Lukas was annoyed; the apology had actually been sincere as even he realized that it wasn't fair to take his frustration out on the Dane. Yes, he didn't tell him the whole reason why he was frustrated, but he still meant it.

"I mean it, you idiot. Normally you deserve what you get, but this is not your fault", Lukas hissed. Right now Mathias wasn't helping the matter, though, as Lukas was getting steadily more annoyed. He did not need this today.

"Lukas, tell me what's bothering you. Please, I know it's not just school: it's always stressful before Christmas and you've never reacted this badly", Mathias pleaded. Lukas could not be moved; he was absolutely not telling anyone.

Sadly, Lukas knew that this was the guy who managed to squeeze the matter of his sexuality out of him. Lukas had thought that he'd never tell that to anyone either, but Mathias helped him to come to terms with it. If the matter was even remotely something he could possibly accept, Lukas thought he'd probably have told Mathias. As it was a crush that was bothering him, there was no way in hell he'd spill the beans.

"Aww, come on! Don't be like that", Mathias tried, and Lukas was pretty sure that if he'd lift his head from the pillow he'd see the puppy eyes. Yet he didn't see them, so he could just lie still.

"Fine", Mathias huffed, "Don't tell me then. I'll just go and ask Tino; you've been spending a lot time with him. Not only in school, but outside as well. You leave together almost every day and you often pull him early to your lessons. One could think there's something between you two."

Lukas stiffened; Mathias had been way too close the mark. Why on earth was his oblivious, idiot friend attentive to the details when it was something like this? Lukas knew that many people didn't give Mathias enough credit for his smartness as he was so goofy all the time. It played against Lukas now as the Dane noticed him stiffening.

"Oh ho, it has something to do with Tino, doesn't it? Did you have a fight? Is he doing something to you?" Mathias inquired. Lukas sighed in his pillow.

"No", he said, lifting his neck just enough for his answer to come unmistakably coherent. He didn't want to give the Dane a chance to 'misunderstand' it.

"Well, a little bird told me that you two are going out, so of course-"

"What?! Emil told you?" Lukas interrupted with a shout and bolted upright.

"Actually, a little bird really did tell me, a puffin to be exact. And now, spill it", Mathias said with a smug grin. Lukas realized he'd dug his own grave, and wondered if he should go do that literally as well. He had forgotten Mr. Puffin, but that didn't mean he couldn't plan the best way to roast that bird. Lukas pinched the bridge of his nose.

"We are not going out. Mr. Puffin just saw something and reported it to Emil, who came to his own conclusions. It would've been hard to explain, so I just let it be", Lukas explained to the idiot.

"Then why would you react so strongly?" Mathias asked confused. Lukas crossed his arms.

"Because I was surprised", he responded with an annoyed tone, and it wasn't a lie either. Despite his answer Mathias' expression soon morphed into realization and Lukas figured that he'd worked it out. Then again after his reaction it wasn't that hard.

"So that's what has been bothering you! You have feelings for him", Mathias said with a wide grin. Apparently the idiot thought it was somehow a good thing. Lukas leaned his face on his hand.

"Don't say anything more", Lukas growled. He was not happy, and he got easily defensive when driven to a corner. He refused to look at his friend and was sure that his neck and cheeks were burning with embarrassment.

"Hey, I don't get why it's so bad. Tino seems nice, and you could try it out", Mathias said with a shrug. Everything was so simple to him.

"For one thing, I don't even know if Tino's attracted to the same gender. This could be a disaster as he isn't just some random guy, he's our friend. It's just a crush, it'll blow over", Lukas muttered through gritted teeth. There was no use to try and deny it as Mathias was right, and what was worse is that the Dane knew he was right. Lukas still didn't have to be happy about it, though.

"Well it affects you a lot, so it's not a matter of a simple crush any more. I don't really find fault in asking him. Sure, things can get a little awkward for a while, but that's not the end of the world, you know. Tino doesn't seem to be the kind to ditch you simply because he doesn't return your feelings and I'm sure he'll be nice about it if it goes awry", Mathias said. As Lukas stayed silent and was clearly frustrated the Dane continued:

"It clearly bothers you, and knowing you you'll just keep it all bottled inside. It's okay to feel and to let yourself feel. Why do you fight it so much?"

Mathias had always known how to strike the right chord, and Lukas found himself staring at his friend. Someone else might have given a long speech, but he just said that it was ok and Lukas wanted to believe him. He wanted, but he couldn't.

"I don't want to have a crush, I can't give in", Lukas responded just as briefly and shook his head slowly.

"But why? What's so bad in it?" Mathias continued to inquire. He was asking too hard questions.

"I don't know!" Lukas snapped and covered his face with his palm again. He didn't know why it was so hard or why he could not give in. Despite this he continued to speak softly:

"I know it's not rational, but every time he smiles at me or when we exchange a look or when he laughs or is annoyingly stubborn, or anything else really, I get the same feeling. There are the feelings people get when they have a crush, but also something else. It's like I'm being on the verge of falling into a deep, dark chasm and just barely hanging on. Giving in is like letting go."

" _Let it go~_ "

"Don't you dare!"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist", Mathias said and laughed before becoming serious again, "It sounds to me that you're afraid. Whether you fear the fall itself or the uncertainty of what will happen when the fall ends, I don't know; that's for you to figure out. What I do know is that hanging on is exhausting you mentally."

Lukas lowered his hand in order to blink at Mathias. Sometimes the idiot could really say something deep. Not that Lukas was surprised about that, but more of how someone needed to spell it for him before he could notice it. He was afraid, wasn't he? He wasn't much of a planner, but the huge uncertainty did unnerve him, not to mention the unfamiliar feelings.

"Fear would explain it", Lukas admitted slowly.

"Fear is also a very natural reaction. I know that you're brave, you can face it", Mathias tried to encourage him. Lukas raised an eyebrow at that.

"Where on earth did you get so much trust in me?" he asked sarcastically.

"You wouldn't be my best friend if I didn't", Mathias replied with a grin. Lukas shook his head again, but was admittedly feeling a lot better.

"It will take a while for me to work this out. And don't you even think about telling anyone!" Lukas said with a threatening glare. Mathias continued to grin.

"Yeah, yeah, I know you'll kill me if I do." It was a small wonder that Lukas hadn't already. Guess he was grateful.

"Good. Now, we both have a lot of work to do, so you'd better leave. I also have a puffin to hunt", Lukas stated way too casually. He enjoyed watching Mathias' grin freeze on his face. Still they both knew it was a sign that Lukas was feeling up again and was even feeling grateful. Lukas didn't have to force out a 'thank you' as it was how they worked.

Mathias left, and Lukas flopped back to the bed. He was lying on his back now, so it was a little improvement, right? He was feeling a bit more relieved after the talk with Mathias, but the day had still been too long. Not to mention that the conversation itself had been exhausting as well when he had already been emotionally drained.

Lukas sighed; leave it to Mathias to get a confession out of him. It reminded him about the time when his friend had almost literally squeezed the confirmation of his sexuality out of him. That time had been a lot more drastic as Lukas hadn't been as badly strung and wouldn't react to the teasing. He had eventually yelled it at Mathias' face when the Dane had trapped him against a wall and threatened to kiss him if he wouldn't spill. Lukas swore that the idiot had no boundaries.

However, his words did get Lukas to consider a lot of things. He had thought that there was no way he could come to terms with the feelings, but Mathias made him reconsider. If he was afraid, wouldn't it be giving in to the fear not to accept them? Even if he would never come around to tell Tino, accepting the feelings might help to get over it. He couldn't get up and he couldn't stay there forever, so the only direction to go was down.

This didn't mean that he would suddenly be okay with the feelings, but he would try to come in terms with them. He could carefully poke around a bit and try to figure out if Tino considered the same gender a possibility. If he was really lucky, he might get some other secrets out of the snooping as well. When he had some sort of an idea, he'd proceed from there.

Or he could do it another way. A plan was already forming in his mind, and he smirked slightly at his thoughts. It seemed like feeling the ice would be plan B in case his first one failed.

He'd need to play nice as he didn't want to upset Tino too much on his birthday. Hopefully it wouldn't upset him at all, but it was a bit risky and could have that effect. The thing was that Lukas had no idea how Tino would react, but if he was going to take the uncertain fall he might as well make it big. But in order to play nice Lukas needed a gift, something else than just the cake. He guessed that Tino would appreciate something hand-made, inexpensive and useful. Lukas felt like using magic was not the best option in this case, kind of like it would lessen the value if he took the easy way out. It was different for Tino, but he was a special case – he put everything he got to every single present. Lukas admired him for that.

Lukas had an idea, but he was a little weary of doing it. A lot of people had laughed at him for it and many would still laugh if they knew. Mathias sometimes teased him lightly about it, but Lukas knew that it wasn't serious. Then again the Dane was probably right about Tino being too nice to make seriously fun of him and would likely be very respectful. Lukas decided that he needed to show some trust as well; he couldn't demand with a ladle if he gave with a spoon.

The only problem was that he was kind of late: he had only two days. Lukas groaned once again as he realized that he would have to get up. He did it while grumbling and thought that he had to love Tino in order to get out of bed for him. That thought made him stop. He couldn't really love him yet, right? It was just a crush that had a possibility to grow to love; that was how things worked.

* * *

 **Hello again, and sorry for being a bit late. It's been a busy week with little time and energy to write, but I managed to do something. Luckily we are getting to the action, so no more boring fillers after this - for now.**

 **As for the history behind the dates in the previous chapter, here are short and simplified explanations:**

 **17.5. is the National Day in Norway, and it's celebrated like an independence day. Norway doesn't have a 'real' independence day as the kindom of Norway was formed around 800-1000. Then Kalmar Union happened and while Sweden left, Norway stayed under Denmark's rule. Then the wars of Napoleon were fought and Denmark went down with France and so was about to lose Norway to Sweden as a punishment. However, instead a constitution for Norway was written and Norway declared independence. The Swedes didn't care and marched their army to Norway and Norway was forced in an union with Sweden and had a Swedish king for almost 100 years till the union dissolved in 1905. However, Norway still kept their constitution during the union, which is part of why the National Day is celebrated on 17.5., the date on which the constitution was confirmed in 1814, instead of 7.6. in 1905.**

 **6.12. is the Independence Day of Finland, but it was a date decided from many. At the time the Grand Dutchy of Finland was an autonomous part of the Russian Empire, and after the Tzar Nikolai II started the so-called russification of Finland, desire for independence grew. 15.11.1917 the Parliament of Finland declared themselves to have the highest power in Finland, which in reality meant pretty much independence. 4.12. the Senate gave over the declaration to be voted on, and on 6.12.1917 the Government voted Finland to be independent. Lenin recognized Finland as a sovereign state 4.1.1918, and was soon followed by others such as France, Sweden, Germany and Greece. Finland's Independence Day was chosen to be 6.12. to underline democracy, as it was the day independence was voted on. It is to be noted that the Independence Day is strongly linked with the wars of Finland in WW2 as Finland successfully defended its independence against the Soviet Union, which is why the celebrations are so solemn.**


	13. Chapter: Failure and Success

Two days.

One.

Saturday came with a crash. Not literally, thank whatever deities were in charge, but it still came way too quickly and Lukas barely managed not to run out of time. Yes, Tino's birthday was on Sunday, but Lukas had been invited to stay the night and at the time of the invitation he'd been a bit out of it and responded positively. Lukas found out that Tino's foster parents were early risers and that he really should have some coffee before making any decisions. Also turning his phone off or at least put it into silent mode for the nights would be a good idea. The only good thing that came out of the phone call was an off-handed suggestion from Lukas that grew into an idea, which in retrospect was something he should have thought earlier.

So here he was, dropped off by his mother in front of Tino's doorstep, balancing a chocolate cake on his arms. Luckily he had the mind to pack everything else into a backpack, so he could concentrate on not spilling the cake on the ground. He had made it the previous evening and would very much appreciate it remaining intact before they'd devour it. Lukas didn't often mention it and showed his skill even less, but he was actually rather good at baking. His cooking wasn't bad, but he was much better with pastries. Unlike Tino, as Lukas had found out the previous day – he still shuddered from the memories and probably would have nightmares for a while. Not that the Finn had been alone responsible for the mess; he'd been paired with Arthur after all. Still, Lukas wasn't so keen on letting Tino to touch anything in the kitchen other than the knives.

As fate would have it, Tino opened the door after Lukas rang the doorbell and exclaimed:

"You're here, wonderful! I made pizza, so you're just in time!"

Lukas wanted to ask if the house was still habitable, but decided to nod instead. Tino was quite a clean type, so the house was probably good even if the food might be inedible. He walked carefully inside while Tino was taking eager glances at the covered cake. Lukas thought that his amethyst eyes could make the most endearing puppy face, and he was sure that if its power was put against him, he would stand no chance. He hated it.

"I'm not sure I'll dare to touch it after yesterday", Lukas finally commented as he started put the cake down in order to remove his shoes and jacket. Tino snatched the cake fast and held on to it. Lukas didn't mind.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad", Tino said with an embarrassed laugh. Lukas fixed a stare at him.

"Really, what about when you melted the butter and burned the sugar before you mixed them into the dough – how you managed that is still beyond me – or when you burned the cookies while cooking, or when you tried to fix them by coating them with chocolate and putting them into the oven again?" Lukas questioned. Yes, it really had been that bad.

"Arthur was in charge of the cooking time, not me! Also, he thought the re-cooking would soften the chocolate thus helping with the dryness of the cookies, and I didn't know he'd do that. The coating was my idea, though. I also admit melting the butter and burning the sugar – I accidentally put them down on the stove while it was heating", Tino confessed with a small pout. Lukas shook his head and stealthily used it as an excuse to look away; Tino's pout was too adorable. Lukas wanted to bash his head to the wall for letting himself think that, but that would have been slightly suspicious.

Luks made his way to the kitchen after Tino and the cake. To his surprise a good scent was floating in the air instead of the burned smell of mismatched toppings he was expecting. On the table sat two pizzas that looked almost picture perfect, and Tino had set the table nicely: a white tablecloth and blue napkins were displayed, and the napkins were even folded to resemble flowers. If there had been candles on the table, it could have passed for romantic. Lukas was slightly amused that despite the setting Tino had still been his practical self and placed big glasses on the table instead of nice ones. He couldn't complain, though.

"You brought a cake, so now we're even. I actually can cook even if I'm not great at it. I'm also at fault for what happened yesterday, but I'm not usually that bad", Tino informed Lukas while the said cake was being carefully set to the fridge.

"I can see that", Lukas said with a nod. Apparently Tino wasn't quite that useless in the kitchen, and some of the blame did reside on Arthur. Lukas made a mental note never to let the two cook or bake together again.

They set to eating, and the pizza was good. Not that Lukas had expected anything else after seeing them. Still, it wasn't that often one got a pizza with rye dough. Tino explained that it was apparently a thing in Finland, and as it was semi-independence celebrations he had decided to try it. Not a bad result.

"Speaking of which, what do you have planned for tomorrow?" Lukas asked while taking a gulp of his drink.

"Not much, really. If it would be okay with you, I'd like to watch the _Unknown Soldier_ ; it's a tradition. I'll try to find one with English subtitles, but I can't guarantee that one has been made. At least I can give you the book to read as it has been translated", Tino said.

"That's okay for me, I don't mind", Lukas said with a shrug. It could be interesting, and by the sound of it the film would be war themed. If it was a film, that is, but Lukas thought that it was more likely than it being a series or a TV-show or something.

"From the name I'd guess it's about war, no?" Lukas asked. He was slightly interested, though wars weren't really his thing. They could be interesting still, and he was curious.

"Yes, it's about a group of soldiers in the Continuation War. It's originally a book and the author was in the war himself, so most of the characters and their doings are based on real people and real deeds. The film we're watching was made in 1955 – there is a newer version as well, but this one's the classic. That's only 10 years after the war ended, so some of the older actors were in the war as well", Tino explained.

Lukas nodded. The film sounded like it would at least be somewhat realistic, so he'd be okay with it. He hoped it didn't have too much drama or some unnecessary love story that seemed to be pushed to every single one. Then again the people who had experienced the war themselves would know about the horrors more than anyone else, so it wasn't as likely to be too dramatized even if it wasn't a document.

"Okay, it sounds good enough. Would you like to watch some other movie tonight?" Lukas asked. He wasn't sure what they should do now, as all the birthday-activity like presents and cake would have to wait for tomorrow.

"Sure; we have some snacks for the purpose as well. Do you have something in mind?" Tino agreed and smiled. The smile might have been a bit smaller than normal now that the cloudy day was close, but it was still an honest smile, which pleased Lukas but only a little.

"Not really. What do you have?" Lukas asked in turn. Tino grinned a bit wider.

"Would you enjoy Lord of the Rings? Extended edition", Tino suggested. Lukas raised an eyebrow.

"Aren't they horribly long?" he asked. Not that he really minded, and he did like the movies. It also was a plus that he hadn't seen the extended versions before.

"Around 4 hours per movie", Tino answered with a grin.

"So you're suggesting that we shut ourselves inside to late night", Lukas said with a straight face despite Tino's excitement. This didn't seem to affect Tino; perhaps he knew Lukas well enough to guess that he was just messing with him.

"Pretty much, yes. And overdose on snacks", Tino confirmed happily.

"I like the sound of that", Lukas answered with a nod. This caused Tino to grin so brightly that Lukas had to lower his gaze on his plate.

Movie was a good idea considering his plan. He wasn't sure if he was ready to execute it, but he wasn't going to back down. He just didn't know, and seeing Tino wasn't exactly helpful. Mathias might have helped to clear things up, but it was a pain to even acknowledge the existence of such feelings, not to even speak about accepting them. Then again his idiot friend had been right about the fact that he couldn't stay where he was forever. He'd just have to see how everything would play down and work on what he was given. At least he had a plan if he decided to act.

After eating and cleaning up they made their way to Tino's room. Tino had suggested that they'd bring a mattress to the living room as it would be comfier than the couch. Tino had already laid a mattress for Lukas to sleep on in his room, so they simply dragged it across the hall. Frank and Marie had gone out and would stay out till tomorrow evening so they didn't have to worry about disturbing anyone.

And so their movie marathon was begun. They had pulled curtains in front of the windows to make it as dark as they could. It wasn't that late, so the sun was still shining even if it wouldn't stay up for much longer: the sun set around 4 pm. Lukas wasn't bothered about the dark; his whole life the change had been there as in the summer seasons the sun would hardly set for a few hours. He was used to it, but he knew that some people did suffer from the prolonged darkness.

They were lying on the mattress with a huge pillow supply – Lukas doubted that Tino had taken every single pillow that there was in the house. They had chips, drinks and chocolate to go with the films, and Lukas was quite happy watching the film and laughing with Tino. The extended version did have a lot of funny scenes not featured in the actual movies, but that was to be expected as they were long enough as they were without added funniness. Every now and then his eyes shifted to Tino, but mostly he kept his concentration on the screen. It was no fun watching movies without paying attention to them.

"I just can't believe that they left Tom Bombadil out of this", Tino muttered. Lukas hummed.

"They probably though he was a character that wouldn't take the plot forward. He's an interesting character, though", Lukas commented. He could understand why, but he still would have preferred Tom in the films like Tino.

" _Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow! Bright Blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow!_ " Tino quoted with a smile. Lukas huffed, amused.

They took a small brake after they were done with the first movie. Just to move around a bit, to replace the eaten snacks, and to use the toilet. Two more were to come, and a brake would do some good. Lukas had been enjoying his time with Tino. It felt weird that the more he felt, the more he fought the feelings but at the same time he also wanted to act on them that much more. It was a battle that he could not win.

"Are you ready to continue?" Tino asked as they settled down yet again.

Lukas decided to mess with him a little and turned his head mechanically with a dead look on his face. It was an expression that had taken a lot of time to master, but Lukas knew that his dead eyes were especially convincing. Yes, he had been staring a lot of pictures of corpses to perfect the look. No, he still wasn't a creeper, just someone who was ready to go out of their way to give a nice scare for his friends. It was especially effective on Halloween, but as Tino hadn't seen it before Lukas hoped it would surprise a strong reaction out of him.

Well, that it did. Lukas saw Tino's eyes widen and he shrunk back a bit. Lukas was quite happy before he noticed how wide Tino's pupils were and how his breath had turned irregular: he was on the verge of panicking, but tried to keep himself composed. Lukas dropped the look immediately and asked:

"What's wrong?"

Tino just shook his head and backed even more when Lukas tried to reach him. Lukas reasoned that as he was the cause to Tino's state, it was logical that he wouldn't allow him to come close. So he sat back and although he was worried and at loss, he managed to keep his calm. Two panicking people were no good to each other.

"It's okay. Nothing bad will happen, I was just being stupid", Lukas said with a quiet voice that was probably as close to gentle as he would ever get. The words seemed to knock some sense into Tino, but that was just because he had managed to keep the panic at bay. Lukas knew that if the situation went that far, it would be very hard to diffuse. Now Tino seemed a bit more responding, so Lukas reached for him again. This time he didn't back away, but the initial flinch still happened when Lukas touched his shoulder.

Gently Lukas pulled him closer and into a hug. He didn't know what else to do but to close his arms around Tino and rub comforting circles to his back. It was a weird feeling, to hug someone like that. The only person Lukas would have been willing to do it for before was Emil, but his little brother wasn't too keen on contact either. Lukas had mussed his hair a few times, but mostly it was enough that he was present. Of course he could have done it to someone else if the situation required it, but it hadn't before now. Lukas had never dealt with a panicking person before.

Slowly Tino's breathing evened and Lukas even allowed him to put his arms around him as well. He normally didn't like hugs, but this was an exception. Lukas pressed his nose carefully against Tino's head and breathed in the summery scent mixed with something cold.

"Are you feeling better?" Lukas asked with a quiet voice.

"Yeah. Thanks for that", Tino replied just as quietly, but didn't let go of Lukas.

"I'm sorry I caused it", Lukas apologized. He was feeling bad for it.

"Don't beat yourself for it; you couldn't have known", Tino said with a sigh. Then he let go and they were once again sitting separately. Lukas had very mixed feelings about that: on one hand he was disappointed, and on the other hand he was annoyed that he was disappointed.

"I must say that you have a really convincing dead person face", Tino said with a strain to his voice. Lukas guessed that the compliment was real, but that the effect was so strong it caused the strain. However, Lukas asked the real question:

"Why did it affect you so strongly? I'm sorry that I didn't know you were sensitive to that kind of things." Tino shook his head again.

"Let's just say that I've seen people die and that it wasn't a pleasant experience. No need to be sorry", Tino replied quietly. A dread spread over Lukas.

"Your parents?" he asked, and received a nod from Tino. Well, now he felt bad. He was supposed to be cheering Tino up, but instead managed to remind him of the very thing he didn't want his friend to dwell on.

"No wonder, then. I'm truly sorry. Are you still up for watching the films?" Lukas asked.

"I said no need to be. And yes, let's watch them. I need to get my mind off that", Tino replied much more stubbornly than a moment ago. Lukas shook his head and turned on the film. It was sometimes amazing how people could get over something traumatic.

Rest of the day went without a hitch, and the atmosphere had slowly returned to happy. Still Lukas couldn't bring himself to act on his plan at that point of time; he had upset Tino badly enough for one day. There was no rush anyway, and another day would come. Better then at a good moment than now when it would just mess everything up even more. It was a minor setback, nothing more.

They watched the movies and had a good time. Lukas was thankful that he didn't disturb it more. Of course it was terribly late after they finished the 12 hour marathon, and they had already changed to their nightwear on the previous brake. They only had to brush their teeth and drag the mattress back to Tino's room and they were ready to hit the hay.

Standing in front of the mattress, Lukas admitted that he was tempted. His plans might have been ruined after he managed to freak out Tino badly, but that didn't mean that he wanted to lie down completely. Well, actually he did, but he wouldn't give in. He could be nice and just settle for the mattress.

He could.

Who was he kidding? Lukas allowed a small smirk to creep on his face and stepped over the mattress next to the bed where Tino had already curled up under the covers. Tino eyed him questioningly, like asking silently if something was wrong. Lukas didn't answer, but grabbed his pillow from the mattress and slipped into the bed with Tino, whose eyes widened comically from the surprise. However, Lukas was quick and under the covers before Tino could react.

"Lukas? Why?" Tino voiced his questions out loud. There was the warm feeling when Tino said his name, but Lukas fought it down. He also kind of liked how Tino didn't ask anything unnecessary, like what he was doing as it was obvious, or point out that there was a mattress on the floor like he didn't already know that. Lukas stared straight into the violet eyes as he answered:

"I forgot my bunny home."

More like he left it, but the result was the same. Not that he needed the plush to sleep. As Tino seemed to be confused about his answer, Lukas took the opportunity to shuffle a bit closer so that he wasn't in danger to fall off all the time. Tino's bed was not as comfy as Lukas', but most importantly it was smaller, so they ended up pretty close. Their knees were touching, and noses were only around 17 centimeters from each other and Lukas' pillow was slightly over the edge. Lukas found himself mesmerized by the vivid violet, big eyes that were so captivating up close. He didn't want to be, but he couldn't break free and Tino wouldn't break the eye contact either. Actually Tino didn't even say anything but just stared at Lukas with eyes full of confusion. He looked so innocent, and Lukas would have taken him as such if he had not known better. He was half-sure that Tino did that on purpose to distract people from his true, evil form. Okay, not evil, but he could always imagine.

"Do you really need to be in my bed because of that? We don't have much space and it'll be quite uncomfortable", Tino said still confused, breaking the captive of his eyes free from their spell. Lukas' cute-sense tingled and he had to close his eyes before falling to the trap again or doing something rash. He sighed and snuggled deeper into the mattress.

"Yes. Don't care, want to stay here", Lukas responded. It kind of even rhymed. It took a while, but eventually there was the accepting sigh from Tino.

"Well, if you really want to. I can go to sleep on the mattress if you want the bed to yourself", Tino suggested and Lukas rolled his eyes behind the closed eyelids at his lack of understanding. Seriously, he had thought that referring to the bunny would be enough.

"No. I forgot my bunny, so you'll do for tonight", Lukas cleared. He opened his eyes to see Tino's reaction and was very pleased to see a blush on his cheeks. Tino didn't get embarrassed that easily, so it was a rare treat to see him react like that. Lukas grudgingly admitted that it was very cute. Damn cuteness making his feelings do stuff. He still didn't like it.

"Um, okay then. I guess I won't mind", Tino said slowly. Lukas gave him a quick glance and though he couldn't see his body properly since it was under the covers, he saw how Tino had lightly ducked his head so that his hair fell in front of his eyes and how his shoulders shifted closer to his ears. However, he didn't try to make himself smaller, so Lukas decided that he was probably just embarrassed and didn't mind the intrusion too much. That was a relief. It was also way too cute and for a moment Lukas resisted, but ended up giving in to the desire and draped his hand over Tino as much as he could without moving any closer. He also closed his eyes again, but could still feel the questioning glaze on him and the unsure shuffling under his arm.

"I told you that you'll do as a substitute for my bunny tonight", Lukas explained, and the shuffling stopped. Tino was wonderfully warm, and to Lukas' pleasure a resigned sigh could be heard soon enough. He felt Tino turning around and shifting to a more comfortable position, which happened to bring him even closer to Lukas. Lukas wasn't complaining: his arm liked the position more.

Lukas was very content like that, and released a happy sigh. Normally crushes might make one have butterflies in a situation like this, but for Lukas it the warmth and the summery scent created a bliss. It was so peaceful, and for now nothing could disturb that peace. If Lukas had believed in belonging somewhere, it might have been a term he'd use, but he wasn't that sappy. Still, it was nice.

Sleep came easily to him that night.

* * *

 **Well... at leas it was fluffy?** **Hope you like it as I'm loosing sleep for this. It's 2 am in the morning here, and I have to wake up at 6 am. Sadly the will to write doesn't strike in the reasonable time of a day.**

 **Now, I just had to mention the cooking and pizza as it has been 10 years now. I just heard of it, but still. Apparently a French minister (can't rememer the name, but he isn't a minister any longer) had said that Finland's food is the worst in the world right after the British one, and Italy's prime minister Berlusconi joined the mocking. Berlusconi mocked especially smoked reindeer, but Finnish food in general was on the list. A few years later Finland entered the World's Best Pizza contest with a pizza that had rye dough and one of the toppings was smoked reindeer; the pizza was called "Pizza Berlusconi". The best part is that the pizza ended up winning, beating Italy's that took the second place. They still sell this pizza. I'm not sure if this is world-level trolling or serious passive-agression, though...**

 **I also think that I should add that I meant no harm with the explanations in the precious chapter. I can talk about the subject for hours, so I tried to keep it short: neither was as simple or easy as it would let you believe. And about the 'real' comment, I did not mean that Norway's indepence wouldn't be real, but that Norway was already once independent before it. It can also be questioned if Norway lost its independence completely, but at least it was a 're-independence'. At least here where I live it is thought of differently, and not in a negative light. No offence meant to any Norwegians or Finns.**


	14. Chapter: Bonding With Pillows and Food

Lukas woke up to his pillow shuffling.

He was perfectly content and warm, so he ignored it and clutched his pillow a bit tighter. He didn't want to wake up yet as it was way too early for such. No, he didn't know the time, but he did know that it was Sunday, so anything before he wanted to wake up was too early. To his dismay his pillow moved again. And that was perhaps the moment that Lukas realized that pillows were not supposed to move or radiate warmth like a human being and that they didn't usually have a summery-cold scent.

Lukas cracked his eyes open. He could see a mop of blond hair; in fact his nose was almost pressed to it. Oh right, he was spending the night at Tino's home and he had insisted on them sharing a bed. Apparently he had also hugged Tino close to him like a pillow during the night. Lukas didn't mind one bit, and glad to have cleared the situation to himself he closed his eyes again and sighed, secretly breathing in the weird but incredibly nice combination of summer and cold. It was like snow in midsummer, and that was not unheard of in the North.

Lukas was about to drift off once more when Tino shuffled again. This time Lukas felt him turning over, which meant that if Lukas opened his eyes, they would be face-to-face. Tino's warm breath huffed against Lukas' throat, and his breathing pattern told Lukas that he was very much awake. That would also explain the feeling of being stared down that had been creeping on Lukas. He slowly opened his eyes only to be immediately met with violet ones that held a steady gaze with a sharp look despite the early hour – or at least early for him.

"Good morning", Lukas muttered, still tired; his eyes were half-closed. He definitely didn't look as sharp and awake as Tino did, but he couldn't give a damn. It was too early to hold a giveaway.

"Morning", Tino responded and yawned. Apparently he wasn't as awake as he looked to be. He also didn't comment on how close Lukas was holding him, which strengthened Lukas' suspicion.

"Nice morning to sleep some more", Lukas said, dropping a not-so-subtle hint. Thinking in the mornings really wasn't his strength.

"No objections", Tino replied and let out a cute sigh as he closed his breathtaking eyes. Lukas marveled for a moment how at ease and relaxed Tino was in his arms. There was no sign of the stiffness that usually lingered in his shoulders and spine when someone touched him for a prolonged period of time. In fact, Tino looked to be quite content there with him. Lukas allowed himself a small smile that went unnoticed before closing his eyes. Maybe he would start to like mornings more if they all started like this.

Lukas took a short nap, and then another. He liked to wake up slowly, and as Tino made no move to get out of bed either, the two of them dozed off for quite the time. It was likely closer to midday when Lukas finally decided to get up and make some coffee; it was Tino's birthday after all. He made his way out of the bed softly as he didn't want to disturb Tino who was still snuggling deeper into his pillow. It was adorable.

Lukas stretched and did not bother to change but went straight to the kitchen. There was no one to see him and coffee was more important. He had to look for the coffee for a while before he found it, and fumbled with the strange machinery for a moment before he got it going. Damn foreign kitchens. He pondered for a while if he should bring breakfast to Tino, but opted to set the table for two instead as it seemed more comfortable for them both. He began to make the breakfast, nothing too fancy as he knew that Tino wouldn't like that.

"Are you making porridge?" questioned a certain ruffled-looking Finn who had just appeared in the doorway. He had a brilliant timing, Lukas had to admit. And probably a brilliant sense of smell, too, as Lukas had barely begun _. Summoned by food_ , he thought.

"Yes. Oat porridge, if you don't mind. Also your foster parents have been thoughtful of you and have found some rye bread for the occasion", Lukas responded as he stirred the mixture. Tino smiled brightly as he reached for a coffee mug in order to pour himself a portion of that blessed morning fuel.

"That's wonderful! I haven't had rye bread in ages; it's not that common here. Oat porridge sounds great, too. Thanks for making breakfast and keeping it simple", Tino said with a grin so blinding that Lukas had to look away. He was secretly quite pleased to have caused it, but mentally clubbed that part of him that was pleased as soon as he realized it. He did allow himself to be pleased about being right on the simple being the right way to go, though.

"You're welcome. Oh, and happy birthday", Lukas stated simply, but with a certain amount of warmness in his voice. He knew that Tino would pick it up, and indeed his companion flashed a smile soon enough to indicate that he understood. It wasn't that happy anymore, and Lukas guessed that Tino really didn't like his birthday that much. He would change that, hopefully.

Lukas had always liked rye bread himself, but when he watched Tino take the first bite of the bread, he believed he saw a new top-level of happiness. Lukas couldn't help but let the corner of his mouth turn slightly at the sight. It was silly, but on some level Lukas could appreciate the capability to enjoy simple things that Tino displayed.

"You have no idea how much I've missed this. Thank you, a lot", Tino commented after swallowing the spoonful of porridge that he had tasted after the bread.

"Glad that you're enjoying it", Lukas responded as he ate his own breakfast. He had to admit that it was good despite being so… bland would probably be the correct term. Bland and simple, but somehow that was just the charm.

"So, do you want to celebrate first the Independence Day or your birthday?" Lukas asked after they were done with the breakfast and dishes. Tino looked at him slightly confused.

"Huh? We are going to have separate celebrations?" he asked. Lukas rolled his eyes.

"Well, you said that your Independence Day is not exactly the best day to celebrate a birthday, so I thought that we'd separate the two, then. I think you can show enough patriotism in half a day to have a birthday on the other half", Lukas stated. Tino let out a chuckle at the statement.

"That is one way of thinking about it. However, it's a good idea. Perhaps we should leave the birthday for later", Tino suggested. Lukas had thought the same, so he nodded in agreement. He guessed that the birthday-part would be happier and so it would be a better way to end the day. Not to mention that Lukas doubted Tino's ability to concentrate before he had done his rituals.

"Okay. You're the leader; what should we do?" Lukas asked as he had no idea what they were going to do besides the movie.

"We'll just light a candle, watch the movie and eat a nicer meal than normally. Though as the meal part can apply to both parties today maybe we should use that to slide smoothly from one part to the other", Tino suggested.

"Yes, that seems like a good idea. But I'm doing the cooking", Lukas stated.

"Aww, come on! I'm not that bad", Tino exclaimed with a pout. Dear gods that pout was adorable. Lukas knew he could never say no to him when he had that face on, he was so heart-meltingly cute, like a puppy. That thought at least smacked Lukas out of it, and his eye twitched slightly in annoyance at his thoughts. Luckily Tino was too busy pouting and didn't see it.

"I'd risk the entire country to a possible catastrophe if I let you in the kitchen. I'm pretty sure that counts as treason", Lukas commented. It came out a bit harsh and not teasing like he had intended due to his own annoyance.

"Lukas…" Tino whined, his eyes turning sad. Oh great, now he made Tino upset. Lukas pinched the bridge of his nose, now even more annoyed at himself. He also did it to avoid looking at Tino; he really hoped that Tino never learned how to use that look for manipulation, for else he would soon be the Overlord of the World.

"Fine, but if anything even starts to go wrong, I'm putting a stop to it. I don't want another take of the activity day", Lukas said with a sigh, and after a small pause he added with a slight softness:

"Besides, it's your birthday dinner, so I should do the cooking today anyway."

"Hey, I couldn't just watch as you work. And _that_ incident was partly Arthur's fault, too, I cooked a perfectly fine pizza yesterday", Tino said with a huff. That was actually the closest to angry that Lukas had heard him. So there were some buttons he shouldn't push after all. Lukas had already thought that nothing could make this guy actually angry. Not that he was now, either, but Lukas had the feeling that if he pushed the issue a bit more some anger might surface.

"Yes, yes, I know. I'll admit that the pizza was good", Lukas sighed. He watched as Tino smiled way too softly at him, and tried not to enjoy it. But no matter how hard he tried, the smile still did something funny to his insides. Stupid crush making him feel stupid things.

"Shall we start, then?" Tino asked, and Lukas made a vague wave with his hand in a 'go ahead' manner. Tino apparently had no problems in understanding as he immediately fetched two candles, one white and one blue.

"I couldn't find blue-and-white candles, but this will do nicely", Tino explained and gestured Lukas to follow him with a tilt of his head. To Lukas' surprise they weren't going to the living room, but Tino's bedroom. Then he thought better of it as he remembered that it was a Finnish movie and Tino had mentioned something about finding one with subtitles, and that would mean they had to search the internet. Lukas nodded to himself, happy to have figured it out.

And indeed when they entered the room, Tino marched straight to his computer, setting the candles on the desk. Lukas noted that although Tino was also still in his pajamas, he had neatly made the bed before breakfast. Lukas got a weird feeling of satisfaction when he noticed that his pillow remained in Tino's bed and not on the mattress that was still lying on the floor.

Tino typed for a while before connecting a cable to the machine. Then he straightened and turned towards his wardrobe.

"We should get dressed; I would feel terrible to do this in pajamas. Just a nice and clean outfit will do, doesn't need to be anything fancy", Tino explained as he pulled out a pair of dark blue jeans and a white button-up shirt with short sleeves. It was a bit nicer than what he normally wore, but still quite casual.

Lukas turned to his bag and took out the jeans and the simple dark blue sweater he had packed with him. It was nice enough. Apparently Tino thought so as well, since after they had dressed he glanced briefly over Lukas and gave an appreciative nod with a slight smile. This pleased Lukas as he had secretly picked the attire because he knew that it looked quite good on him. Not that he'd ever admit it. Tino also looked good in his outfit; Lukas clubbed the though.

To Lukas' surprise Tino grabbed the candles from the desk and headed out of the room. Weren't they going to watch the movie after all? Despite his confusion Lukas followed Tino, and soon found himself in the living room. Tino set the candles on the small table before the couch and lit them in an almost gentle manner. Lukas watched patiently, standing up straight to show his respect.

After the ritual was complete Tino sat on the couch, silently inviting Lukas to join him, which he did. Lukas wasn't quite sure what was going on, but caught on quickly after Tino grabbed the remote and shuffled the channels for a moment before an image of a computer screen popped up. So that was the purpose of the plug that Tino had connected to his computer. Lukas thought it to be clever.

"Ready to start?" Tino asked, and Lukas nodded. Apparently Tino had found a version with English subtitles.

Lukas had to admit, the film was pretty good. Not his favorite, but definitely worth watching. He was especially pleased by the lack of an unnecessary love story, and found himself laughing at some parts with Tino. There were few parts that he didn't quite understand, but that was alright as Tino explained them. One such part was when the Soviet propaganda machine yelled _"Sons of Finland, kill your Lapuan officers and come here!"_ and the Finnish soldier responded _"All the Lapuans have been killed ages ago, now it's the Laihians' turn!"_

Tino laughed at that, but Lukas was confused. At least he was amused by the following _"Sons of Finland, come here to get some bread!" "You come here to get some butter on that bread of yours!"_

"I get the bread, but what's up with the Lapuans?" Lukas asked.

"It's just that Lapua is a town in Finland and the Lapua Movement, an extreme right-winged political party, got its start from there. Basically they are calling the Finnish officers fascists, but the soldier answers them like they were talking just about people from Lapua. Laihia is also a town", Tino explained. Lukas nodded, and continued watching.

It was a rather long film, so when they finished it dinner was overdue. Lukas kept his promise and let Tino in the kitchen, but he made the decisions regarding the food as he didn't trust Tino to come up with something edible other than pizza – and even the pizza was a surprise as the guy had a really weird taste. Seriously, Lukas watched Tino eat his lunch almost every day. Some of that stuff was certainly not meant to be eaten.

Despite Lukas' doubts it went really well, probably due to the fact that Lukas assigned Tino to handle the knives again. They were going to have some salmon baked in the oven with cream, potatoes, onions and carrots, and a salad. Fancy enough but quite hard to mess up.

Somehow they managed to forget the salt and pepper, though, but it still tasted delicious.

"Can we have the cake for dessert?" Tino asked with stage one puppy eyes. Lukas shrugged, both as an answer and as a physical effort to shake off the effect of the puppy eyes. They were only stage one, so it wasn't too hard.

"If you want to. It's your birthday cake after all", he responded while eating the last of his food. Salmon was always good. Tino huffed a little, sounding amused. Then his eyes lit up and he grinned before it shifted into a half-smirk that Lukas had not seen before. Lukas raised a questioning eyebrow at Tino's expression.

"I know what would go perfectly with the cake. Coffee", Tino said with the half-smirk still on his face. Lukas raised the eyebrow a bit higher.

"What are you planning?" he asked, having figured out the meaning of the expression.

"Huh?" Tino said, the half-smirk melting from his face, but it was soon replaced by a grin, "Nothing you should concern yourself with for now. You'll see in time. But I was also contemplating if I should try to put some sugar in my coffee as it is for dessert."

Lukas naturally got curious over the vague words, but he knew better than to ask about it. He'd use the old technique of waiting and watching, and hopefully he'd figure it out. Well, he certainly would, but the question was if he'd figure it out before Tino revealed it. Lukas was not one to turn down challenges.

"Do what you want, though I don't think it would taste too good", Lukas said and was unable to stop himself from cringing his nose at the thought. He liked his coffee bitter, thank you very much. He didn't mind sweets as he liked to bake, but not in his coffee. Coffee is sacred.

"I think I'll give it a try", Tino hummed in thought as he started to clear the dishes. Lukas joined him, and soon they had cleared the table and set it up again for the dessert. Lukas went to fetch the cake from the fridge, and Tino looked on eagerly as he revealed the cake. It was otherwise a pretty normal chocolate cake, but Lukas had put some extra effort to the decorations; the thin, swirly pieces of hardened chocolate were worth the trouble. Tino looked at the cake in amazement.

"It's wonderful! I want to learn to do that too!" Tino exclaimed. Lukas shifted his weight awkwardly, but decided that as long as Tino followed the instructions it couldn't have too bad consequences and said:

"I can teach you sometime, if you want to."

The beaming grin on Tino's face was worth any destruction the decision might bring.

True to his word, Tino went to the counter and put some of the sweet, white substance in his coffee. Lukas watched with a shake of his head, but didn't comment any further. At least it was only one occasion, and it was Tino's birthday, so he'd let it slide. He did, however, shelter his own cup in case of it being contagious through air.

Lukas was sneaky, so while Tino was messing with his coffee Lukas had pulled out a candle, put it on the cake, and lit it with a flick of his finger. Magic could really come in handy. When Tino turned around and looked at the candle in surprise, Lukas sat on his chair casually like nothing happened. Tino shook his head, but chuckled.

"Thank you", he said, and somehow managed to express everything he was thankful of with that one phrase. There was no need for explanations. Lukas let a small smile creep on his face, and he nodded as an answer. It was also enough, no words needed.

Tino blew out the candle and cut the first piece immediately. Lukas let out a small, amused huff at Tino's sweet tooth, but so quietly that the Finn who looked like he was hypnotized by the cake didn't notice.

"You're an amazing baker, Lukas", Tino commented and smiled at his friend. Lukas had to really fight down the fluttery feeling that caused; the compliment, saying his name and smiling at him were all things that brought the feelings forward alone, but put together… Lukas really wanted to bash his head to the table. He managed to shrug as an answer.

Tino took a sip from his coffee, and his face went blank. Lukas noticed this and looked on, his curiosity lifting its head. There was a moment when Tino stared at his drink and Lukas stared at Tino before the Finn slowly set the mug down. Then he fixed his gaze on Lukas and stated:

"I think I mixed the sugar with salt."

He then casually took another sip and continued to eat his cake.

Lukas stared. He blinked a few times before he gave in and sniggered. Tino pretended that he didn't notice and continued switching between eating the cake and drinking the salted coffee. Lukas didn't believe that it tasted good at all, and took a sip from his perfect coffee with a smirk on his face.

"I have no idea how you managed that", Lukas commented finally.

"They are both in glass jars. I'm not in the kitchen that much as my foster parents do all the cooking, so I accidentally mixed them up", Tino replied with a sigh. He was still drinking his coffee without a complaint. Lukas made a mental note to congratulate Frank and Marie on the decision to keep Tino out on the kitchen. It was very likely that they tried their best to do all the cooking after they saw what Tino made.

"Then it was maybe a good thing that we forgot to put salt on the fish; I'm not too fond of sugared salmon", Lukas commented. Tino made a face at the thought.

They couldn't finish all of the cake so they put it back in the fridge. Tino seemed to be very happy, and Lukas was silently pleased with himself as he had managed to brighten up the day. But now the time had come to give Tino his present, and Lukas was slightly nervous even if he tried to convince himself that it was okay. He hadn't done the best possible job as he had run out of time, but it was decent enough.

"Come with me", Lukas said and walked out of the kitchen, towards Tino's room where his bad was. Lukas couldn't hear if Tino followed or not, but he was ready to bet that Tino's curiosity got the best of him. Not to mention that Lukas had asked him to follow and Tino wasn't one to refuse a request without a good reason. Lukas dug out the package from his bag and turned around to see Tino standing there, anticipation written on his face. Lukas did his best to smile softly and held the package towards Tino while saying:

"Happy birthday."

Something close to adoration crossed Tino's face as he gently took the package from Lukas. It wasn't big, around the size of his hand, and it was wrapped neatly within a serene blue wrapper.

"Thank you", Tino responded as Lukas let go of the soft package. Lukas watched as Tino sat on his bed and started to open it carefully, not wanting to tear the wrapper. As soon as he got it open, he threw his head back and let out a laugh. Lukas stiffened, but he didn't need to worry:

"How can you be so perfect? Really, only you'd notice something like this."

That certainly didn't help Lukas to relax. At all. Did Tino even realize what he was saying? Lukas was so close to blushing that he grumbled without raising his gaze from the floor:

"I thought that it would be good for you to have them even if you claim not to get cold easily."

"Did you make these yourself?" Tino asked after inspecting his gift. Lukas just nodded, still unable to look anywhere else but the floor.

"They're wonderful, thank you so much!" Tino exclaimed, and Lukas managed to look up just in time to see Tino pull the furry, light blue mittens with a white snowflake design on his hands. It looked kind of silly with his short sleeves, but Lukas found it absolutely adorable. He was so uplifted from the fact that not only did Tino like them but that he didn't make fun of Lukas' knitting either, that he couldn't even bother to be annoyed. Not to mention that he was just called 'perfect' by his crush, but that certainly had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Lukas had indeed noticed that Tino was the only one who still wasn't using any gloves, and thought them to make a pretty good gift. He should have known better than to think that Tino would make fun of him, though. He smiled slightly in that discreet way of his as he watched Tino cuddle with his new mittens. That smile turned into a smirk as he took up a pillow and hit Tino over the head with it.

That day Lukas learned not to start a pillow fight with Tino unless he wanted to be annihilated with a not-too-soft pillow. But hey, at least they had fun. Lukas thought it to be great despite the fact that he didn't get to put his plan into action. He was patient; another day would come.

Like tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow would be a great day.

* * *

 **I'm back. The University has kept me busy, and will continue to do so. I'd love to promise you frequent updates, but I can't. Don't worry, though, as I'm not abandoning this fic. It will just take some time to update, and I will try not to leave a gap this big between this and the next chapter.**

 **I read from somewhere that October would be dedicated to this pairing. Thus I will try to update as much as I can in this month.**

 **Thank you to everyone who have been following this story for your patience!**

 **Few words from the Lapua Movement: It was a right-wing movement that got its start after the Finnish Civil War. Though it first gained popularity and political influece, it radicalized and started to lose support when the members started kidnapping people who they deemed to be too socialist and taking them to the border of Soviet Union, threatening them to cross the border, and sometimes even killing the victim. They went too far when they kidnapped the former President, and when they physically attacked a socialist meeting and started a rebellion, but a new Civil War was luckily avoided and the rebellion surrendered. The Movement was banned after that, long before WW2 in 1932.**


	15. Chapter: Tomorrow Arrives

Tino was late.

Lukas shifted his weight from one foot to another. It was one of his nervous habits, but it was discreet and so many people didn't even notice. He was waiting near the gate, just barely inside the school grounds with Mathias and Berwald.

Well, Tino wasn't technically late, but he was a lot later than usual, and that made Lukas anxious. He didn't believe that anything bad had happened; it simply unnerved him when certain patterns were broken. Not to mention that Lukas was already a bit shiftier than normal as he had decided to break their routine as well: he was going to put that plan of his finally into action.

Not in school, though. That would be way over the top. Lukas hadn't yet thought of a good excuse to pull Tino somewhere after school, but he was working on it.

A running figure approached the school gates, and it took only a glance for Lukas to know that it was Tino.

 _Finally_ , Lukas thought and crossed his arms impatiently. At least they weren't late yet, but there were only ten minutes left until classes would start, and Lukas was not happy about that. It made him even unhappier that his chest tightened a bit and his stomach flopped at the sight of Tino. He had surely eaten something foul at breakfast. No other options. None.

Lukas entirely expected Tino to skid into a halt in front of them, and he tilted his head in confusion when the Finn showed no signs of slowing down. Lukas readied himself to grab Tino in case he tried to run past them, but got a shock as Tino simply barreled straight into him. Lukas had to take few steps back because of the collision. Then he stiffened. Tino was hugging him. But that was not the part that made him stiffen; it was the part that he was okay with it.

Lukas looked in confusion at Mathias and Berwald, who were now few steps in front of him. As Tino couldn't see them from his position – though Lukas suspected that Tino couldn't see anything right now as he had buried his face to Lukas' shoulder – Mathias took advantage of the situation and gave Lukas thumbs up with a wink. Lukas discreetly flipped him off.

Despite this Lukas slowly lifted his arm and kind of hugged Tino back. It was good enough, at least from him and in public, no less. Then he had to do a double-take on Berwald. He had been so focused on Mathias' embarrassing gestures that he had almost missed the Swede. Now, Berwald had very stiff facial expressions, to put it lightly, and that hadn't changed. In contrast his body language was clearer than most, and Lukas had no trouble in seeing the stiff shoulders, the slight forward position he was displaying and that he had turned his eyes away from them. It wasn't obvious, but it was easy to see if one knew what to look, and what he saw made Lukas blink in surprise.

No, he had to be wrong.

But he wasn't and he knew that. Berwald was displaying jealousy far too clearly, and Lukas had a fair idea that it had something to do with the blonde Finn hugging him. Well, that complicated things a bit. He'd have to think about that later, though, as Tino decided to finally tell what the assault was about:

"Thank you. I don't know how you did it, but thank you."

"I'm not sure what I did, but you're welcome anyway", Lukas replied. Tino's words didn't explain the situation at all, really.

"It's Hanatamago. I don't know how you convinced them, but I'm allowed to have her!" Tino exclaimed happily and released Lukas from the hug. Lukas couldn't help the small feeling of disappointment at that, which made him slightly annoyed.

"And why do you think I'd have anything to do with that?" Lukas asked. Of course he did have something to do with it: the phone call he received before Tino's birthday. He had made an offhanded comment about how Hanatamago would make Tino happier than him coming over as a protest, and Frank had been confused about what he was talking about. Apparently Tino hadn't told them anything about his volunteering other than that he did it. So Lukas had explained, and that had given Tino's foster parents the idea. Lukas wasn't sure how they had worked around the "no pets" rule, but somehow they had done it. Lukas was secretly glad.

"Don't play stupid with me. Someone told them, and it had to be someone who knew of Hanatamago and talked to Frank and Marie. You're the only one to fit in that category", Tino explained. Lukas noted how Tino didn't call them 'foster parents' in front of Mathias and Berwald, who were listening to the conversation. Lukas also noted how unsettled Berwald seemed to be from the fact that Lukas knew a lot more about Tino's personal life. Lukas kind of wanted to rub it in his face, but that felt like a little-too-jerkish move. Maybe he even felt a bit bad for the Swede.

"Okay, you caught me. But I didn't do it on purpose, just that you know", Lukas admitted with a shrug. Tino beamed at him, and that kind of made it all okay.

"Thank you, still. Would you like to come with me today to look at her? I missed my normal volunteering this Saturday, as you know, so I'm going today instead. She'll be coming home with me within the week", Tino said, and without his knowledge he gave Lukas just the thing he needed: a reason to get Tino alone after school.

"I don't see why not", Lukas responded. He was nice and made no comments of how he knew that Tino missed his volunteering. He wanted to, but that could have counted as rubbing-it-in-the-face, so he didn't. Since when had he been this considerate of people? Oh, right, since he got to know Tino.

"And who is this Hana…?" Mathias asked, but couldn't remember the rest of the name. Lukas didn't blame him. He also noticed how Mathias had said "who" – the little things in which the Dane showed his smartness (Tino had referred to Hana as 'she' after all).

"Hanatamago! She's a dog I'm going to adopt", Tino exclaimed and couldn't look any happier even if he tried. Mathias grinned at him, and Lukas felt for the first time in his life a little sad that he didn't display his emotions in such a way. He got over it quickly, as he wouldn't be him if he did. Also it was him who had made it past Tino's defenses, not Mathias and not Berwald, but him, Lukas. That definitely made him feel a lot better.

Lukas took a look at the clock. Five minutes left.

"We should head to class. You were late", Lukas said. Tino flashed him a sheepish smile and waved his goodbyes to Mathias and Berwald. Lukas noticed that he wore mittens now, and the bright blue coloring gave it away. He allowed himself to be a bit pleased by it.

"Sorry about that. I was so happy about Hanatamago that I started to make presents and I kind of pushed it a bit too far and overslept", Tino explained. Lukas looked at him unimpressed, but secretly he thought that it was a little sweet. How Tino could channel his happiness to others like that, Lukas would never know, but he admired him for that. But Tino overdoing it again was not good.

"You seriously have to learn your limits. It's not good for you", Lukas commented as they arrived to the class. Lukas was pleased to find out that the teacher hadn't arrived yet, and so they stopped next to the door to wait.

"I'm doing my best", Tino answered seriously. Lukas nodded at that. They fell into their silence after that.

Lukas was hoping to have a normal school day this Monday; they had been scarce ever since Tino joined the school. Not that he complained, but it was nice to just have a normal day every once in a while. Of course if he would have it his way, the day would take a turn from normal after school, but only after it. For now he wanted peace.

He shouldn't have wished it.

Everything went fine for the first two lessons. In math Lukas twirled his pen and secretly watched Tino, while the one in question was solving problems with Eduard. In English Lukas got to sit with Tino, and they discussed the essays they were supposed to write the following week. It was nice.

Then came the break, and Lukas was just saying his goodbyes to Tino and turning towards his Norwegian class when all hell broke loose.

There was shouting, pushing around and a weird flapping sound. Because of the small corridors the commotion spread easily and soon everyone tried to get out of the crowd, pushing each other. Lukas pressed himself against a wall to avoid someone's flailing arm, and wondered how on earth he would make it to his next lesson. However, soon the cause of the commotion was in his sight and he forgot all about making it on time: it was Mr. Puffin trying to get away and Emil chasing the bird.

Lukas pinched the bridge of his nose, but decided that he should do something. So he made his way through the people, elbowing few of them on the way when they came too close to comfort. He stopped in front of the peace-disrupting duo and grabbed the escaping puffin from his leg. Emil froze at the sight.

"Care to explain?" Lukas asked coldly. The crowd around them was still restless, but the biggest movement was gone now that the two weren't pushing their way through it. Emil would get into trouble because of this, and not only from Lukas. Why he had the puffin in school in the first place? He knew that they weren't allowed to bring pets to school.

"Mr. Puffin hid in my backpack and when I opened it, he flew out and stole Lilli's snack", Emil muttered just as a small, blonde-haired girl came in sight. She looked kind of familiar, and Lukas realized why as he hear a voice:

"Lilli, what are you doing here? Did someone do something to you?"

Lukas wanted to massage his temples when he heard that. Of course it had to be Vash's little sister. Unless Lukas managed to do something, Emil was so dead. And maybe Lukas too; Vash was a little trigger-happy like that. To Lukas' relief Lilli seemed to know this and responded:

"Nothing to be concerned about, brother. We were just playing."

"With _him_?" Vash asked pointing at Emil. Lilli looked a little unsure about where her brother was going with that, but she nodded. "I should have known. Don't worry; I'll take care of the pest."

The relief was gone as soon as it came. Lilli tried to protest, but Lukas knew that Vash wouldn't listen. He never did if he thought that his little sister was in any way bothered. It was on some level understandable – Lukas was a big brother himself – but exaggeration existed. Also, Lukas was pretty sure that he'd handle the situation a lot more civilized than what Vash usually did.

"Bad puffin! It's not nice to take others' snacks, you know. Now give it back." Lukas didn't even have to turn his head to know that it was Tino scolding the puffin, but he did anyway and saw Mr. Puffin giving the treat to Tino without a complaint. So unlike the bird, Lukas thought. He also wondered where Tino was going with this; now Tino had everyone's attention on him.

Lukas watched as Tino casually took the snack, some kind of a candy bar, out of the puffin's beak and went over to Lilli and Vash. Tino offered the snack back to the girl and said with one of his brilliant smiles:

"Here you go. Sorry for the puffin; I'll see that he gets scolded."

Lilli smiled back happily but Vash wasn't convinced.

"And what do you have to do with this?" he asked, suspicious and with his arms crossed. Lukas noted that it wasn't a complete denial as the head position was still neutral, but it certainly wasn't a positive sign either. Lukas didn't wonder; he knew no one who could fully resist Tino's smile.

"Ah, nothing really. It's called being polite", Tino replied and directed his smile to Vash now. Lukas arched one of his eyebrows at the slightly provocative tone. The smile, however, stayed as happy and polite as ever.

"Are you suggesting something?" Vash asked with a dangerous undertone in his voice, his center of gravity shifting slightly forward. A gesture that was often thought to be threatening because of the aggression it implied and Lukas didn't miss it.

"That is for you to decide. But before you do, I'll have you know that I'm a better shot than you are", Tino said and continued smiling. It became so quiet that crickets could be heard. Lukas blinked in astonishment, and he started to fear a little for the cute blonde.

Then Vash laughed roughly and slapped his hand on Tino's shoulder. Lukas was confused, but even still he did notice the flinch that other observers would have mistaken as pain if they hadn't known better.

"I almost forgot that we still have to solve that issue. Remind me next time, we all have to make it to lessons now. See you, Tino", Vash said casually, adding before turning around: "And I can guarantee you that I'm the better shot."

Tino laughed and responded: "We'll see!"

And just like that it was over. Lukas blinked at Tino, who turned to face Emil and suggested that he should be more careful in the future. Lukas handed the puffin back to Emil, who shot a glare at the bird. It wisely stayed quiet – yes, the puffin could talk.

The crowd soon disappeared as everyone scattered to their lessons, but Lukas lingered for a moment to ask Tino a question:

"How did you do that?"

"Hmm? Oh, that. I've spoken with Vash quite a bit and we like to joke around each other like that. I also hoped that the challenge would make him forget the incident, and it apparently worked. He's actually a nice guy to talk to", Tino explained and smiled sheepishly. Lukas couldn't explain the sudden sting in his mood, but something about Tino talking to Vash bugged him. He'd figure it out later.

"Hard to believe, but as it's you I guess it's true", Lukas said with a shrug. He turned to go to his class with a wave to Tino, but didn't miss the small, different kind of smile taking form on Tino's lips. It looked strangely pleased and incredibly soft. Lukas wondered for a moment, but shook the thought as he had to hurry to or he'd be late. He wouldn't allow himself to go all cotton-brained over a stupid crush. Or at least any more cotton-brained than he already was.

Luckily the rest of the school day was rather uneventful. For some it might have been boring, but Lukas enjoyed the peace. It wouldn't last long anyway as he'd finally do something with all the stupid feelings after school. Not that he wanted to, but he didn't know how long he could keep it up and Mathias had been right about it being too taxing. But Lukas really liked Tino, and didn't want to lose their friendship over a stupid crush. He never gave his mind s chance to imagine a scenario where Tino would return his feelings as the chances of that happening were so slim.

Too bad that Mathias wasn't there to courage him now. Lukas sighed and put the history book in his bag when the bell rang as Tino did the same next to him. Lukas could feel his nervousness building up.

They walked out of the school together, and Lukas felt like someone was staring at them. He glanced at Tino, who tightened his lips and gave a miniscule nod. Yeah, he'd noticed it too. Lukas glanced discreetly around them, but couldn't see anything until a shadow moved in a doorway. Tino noticed it at the same time, and they both ended up looking at Berwald who was leaning to the doorframe and watching them go. Tino exchanged looks with Lukas and shrugged, but Lukas was quite sure that he knew what it was about. However, Berwald did not try to follow them but simply watched.

It wasn't until Tino turned to the small path through the forest that the silence was broken.

"He isn't following us, is he?" Lukas asked. Tino looked confused.

"No. Why'd you think so?" he asked in turn.

"Well, the last time you took a turn here you did it because I was following you. We usually take the bus", Lukas commented. He'd been to the shelter with Tino a few times after the first, and he was slowly but surely getting comfortable around horses.

"Ah, I get it. But no, I simply feel like walking today, if it's okay for you", Tino said. Lukas shrugged and followed, though not completely at ease as he still remembered the not-so-nice experience in the forest.

"I wonder why he was looking at us so intently, though", Tino wondered out loud. Lukas noticed the opening he was given, and staggered for a moment between letting it pass and going for it, but eventually decided to test the waters. It would be a good start.

"It's not that surprising, really. He clearly likes you", Lukas said steadily despite his mental hesitation. He waited for Tino's reaction.

"Well I like all of you, but I don't stare after you like that", Tino replied with a shake of his head. Lukas wanted to facepalm but shut his eyes for a moment instead. Really, Tino couldn't be that oblivious, could he?

"No, I mean that he likes you in a romantic way", Lukas broke the news none-too-gently. Tino's eyes widened and his head snapped towards Lukas.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I don't understand how I could have missed something like that. Are you sure?" Tino asked, looking very confused. Just confused, nothing else. Lukas didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing for him.

"Certain. Though I got to know only this morning, too. You probably didn't notice as you had your head buried in my shoulder at the time", Lukas replied. Tino didn't answer for a time, but kept walking deep in thought. They were out of the city now, and the sound of cars couldn't be heard.

"Well, this certainly complicates things", Tino finally said. Lukas barked a short laugh.

"That was exactly what I thought", he revealed. He was pretty sure that they weren't thinking of the same kind of complication, but their words were still almost identical.

"Yeah. I mean, you are all my friends and I don't want to lose you", Tino said with a sigh. Lukas had been right.

"But what if some of us want you to be more than a friend?" Lukas had meant the question rhetorical, but it came out more personal than intended. Tino noticed and raised his eyebrows.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"Nothing. It's a rhetorical question", Lukas replied. Tino made a stop so sudden that Lukas took almost four steps before he realized it. He stopped as well and turned to face Tino.

"You are not telling the truth", Tino stated and seemed to be a bit surprised about it. Damn it. Lukas knew that he wasn't a master liar, but Tino figured that out way too easily and quickly. Lukas shrugged. He really wasn't sure himself.

"I'm not moving until you tell me the real question", Tino said stubbornly and leaned against a tree. Lukas sighed; he knew that Tino wouldn't go back on his word, not even if Lukas left.

"I can't imagine why you'd find it this important", Lukas stated. It seemed a little drastic over a one question.

"It is for me. Now, are you going to answer?" Tino replied. Lukas was about to respond something negative and borderline rude before he realized the chance that he had right there. If he was about to take the fall, he could as well do it big.

"You really want to know?" he asked, taking a step closer. Tino nodded with a sure look that faltered a bit when Lukas leaned in, placing his hands on the tree trunk next to Tino's head on both sides, trapping him efficiently. They stared at each other. Tino's eyes were wide, and Lukas found them mesmerizing still even though he was wearing the brown contacts.

Lukas decided that it was better to not say anything. Instead he began to slowly lean in, making sure that Tino had enough time to realize what was going on and to pull away if he wanted to. His breath quivered a little from fear and excitement, and it sounded way too loud in the quiet snow-covered forest, but he didn't care. What he cared about was Tino, and how he looked at him with those adorable, wide eyes. His heart sped up as he leaned even closer.

"Oi, you!"

Lukas spun around, partly from reflex and partly from pure annoyance ready to beat up the poor bastard who dared to interrupt. From the corner of his eye he saw that Tino had spun, too, and had one of his hands in his pocked. Lukas had a hunch that he was clutching a knife. When Lukas saw the puffin he wanted a knife, too. Of course it had to spy on them. His attitude took a complete turn when the puffin raced towards them and yelled:

"They took the brat!"

"What? Who?" Lukas asked, now worried. What could the puffin be talking about?

"The brat has been kidnapped!" Mr. Puffin repeated.

That was when it hit Lukas. Emil had been kidnapped.

* * *

 **I somehow feel so evil.**

 **Well, I have a 8-paged essay due tomorrow and I'm sitting here writing a fanfic. Figures. I also spent my weekend cosplaying for the first time. I went as Norway. It was... interesting. But I got two Icelands to call me Big Brother, so I'd call that a win.**

 **I try not to leave you hanging for a long time, thank you guys for being so patient.**

 **Oh, and we passed 80 Word-pages and 50 000 words with this chapter. Thank you all of you who have been commenting and inspiring me to write more of this!**


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